Our pond project (with pics)

That's the plan Jenny

The trouble with being a bit tight, and with going for a mostly free, see what washes up on the beach approach is that you have to wait for the right stuff to wash up on the beach.

 

Understood Clue,
but a great opportunity for you and the lad to go out on a foraging exercise. How are all the fish fairing?
Jenny

 

The fish seem to be doing fine Jenny. They seem to be finding their confidence and hiding less now too. I can't wait til they're properly confident. They all hang out in a gang, and every now and then one of the orfes suddenly breaks off for a high speed swim for no apparent reason. And when I say high speed, I mean high speed. They can't half shift. I'd estimate about 2 metres per second, which translates to about 4 and a half miles per hour. Doesn't sound like much, but for a fish that is only 3 inches long, that's fast. Scaling it up to human size its like nearly 90mph

 

More signs that my plan is coming together. Look who I found resting on some flowers just a few feet from the pond.

 

I think I've made a tactical error.

I'm a firm believer that gardens shouldn't have many straight lines, and certainly shouldn't have straight path. Well, with the fixed features (pond and play area) where they are, I can't route a path to the far end without it being straight.

Add to that the fact that the pond is too close to the play area, its a risk, and also it is in the way of planned expansion of the play area.

Another design blunder is that its out of sight from the main chillout area, so its kind of pointless where it is.

I still want a pond, but not where it is. I'm now mulling over this cunning plan.

1. Utilise the as yet unused front garden, to include a sort of tiered arrangement of pond and bog. The front garden is warmer and more sunny than the back, so maybe algae might be more of a problem. The flip side is it wont be under the neighbour's insanely huge tree, so less bits will fall in it.

2. Relocate the fish and most plants from current pond at back to new pond at front.

3. Fill in the pond at the back, but maybe leave the liner in so that I can grow bog plants there, and the wet ground with rocks and plants would still offer refuge to some wildlife species.

Its point 3 I'm most unsure about. I think if I get that wrong it will end up being a stinky, sloppy, mozzie infested mess.

Any thoughts?

 

Beware if it's very sunny out the front Clue, they may be stressed by water too warm. Cooked fish - not nice,
Jenny

 

what are you saying Jenny? cooked fish is nice...its yummy

 

delicious when battered in fact

 

Ask Ziggy,
I don't like fish,
Jenny

 

Just so long as you poke a few drainage holes in the liner before creating the bog garden, you should be ok. The only thing I'm thinking is, you will need to keep a watering can to hand to keep it on the moist side.

If you go the sunny front garden approach, the fish will be fine just so long as you have the plants in place to create shade.

 

Here's 2 of my newest buddies, presumably taking advantage of the pond.