new pond

Hi,

I will be soon building a small pond with size in the order of 1.5m by 0.7 wide by max 0.4 deep with sloping sides.

I would like to grow plants here with no fish. Do you think I could also have a small fountain in this pond or is this likely to affect the plants.



many thanks

 

I think the plants will be happy. You'll put some oxygen into the water, with your fountain, which will help too.

 

Hi GL,

As long as it doesn't splash the plants, water droplets lens the sun on a hot day & can burn the leaves. Thats why we don't water when the sun is out.

Saying that, there are probably marginal aquatics that have evolved to live by waterfalls.

Good luck with it, a pond is always a nice feature. Don't forget to plant some watercress so its feeding you too.

I like going into Tescos, seeing how much a bunch of water cress is (usually 90p ish) & then going round the back & picking a bunch. Feels like picking money like that.

 

You can't have Water Lilies with a fountain. Their leaves don't like being splashed.
Creeping Jenny is ideal for the sides of ponds with moving water.

 

Sorry, should have looked at the size of the pond more clearly.

Little "waterfall" beside the pond instead perhaps?

 

[quote='kindredspirit' pid='406171'
Creeping Jenny is ideal for the sides of ponds with moving water.
[/quote]


I'm not dating her any more since she jumped out from behind the coal bunker & scared me.

 

Hi gardenlearner, so you are going to build a "natural pond"
A rule of thumb is natural ponds do not have a fountain, not only do most plants "not like it" there will soon become a build up of silt which will block the pump.

I suggest you build the pond with one side more "shallow" than the rest so that if any wildlife that shouldn't be in there can at least climb out.

Take some pictures as you go.

 

ok thanks.

I'll forget the pump anc concentrate on the plants.

Another question i have is can i use carpet underlay under my butyl liner or is this likely to rot and sink at a later stage.

 

All sides of a natural pond should slope, the reason is a vertical side will collapse forcing the liner to bulge. Only one side should have a really "shallow" side for animals etc to get out, not all sides. Pebbles on a shelf or sloping side is a popular idea, unfortunately its not a good one, because the stones are just laid down, if anything climbs on them to get out, they will just slip which if you are small can be dangerous. You can't cement them together as the lime in the cement will kill any fish or most wildlife.

Carpets or carpet underlay under a pond liner are a bad thing, two reasons.

1) No matter what the material, it, or part of it will rot giving no support / voids.

2) Liner makers g'tee is void if carpet used.

Sand is cheap and is good.

You should not use ordinary soil for pond plants as it often contains "nutrients" that are not good for ponds, use aquatic soil.
I would point out that hessian in pond baskets also rots, that's why there are now pond baskets with very small holes - no hessian required.

But yes, do some more research first, and when you build it, make sure its level before you add water.

 

Water pumps seem ok in any pond to use with a 'trickle' water feature - even with a lily - especially useful when - WHEN - we do get very hot dry spells and if you have fish in there it helps to keep the water more oxygenated.

Like the idea of growing your own watercress Ziggy .....must try that!

 

If you can't afford Aquatic Soil (Arthur Bowers or similar) then clay sub-soil will do.


As Watergarden said, ordinary garden soil is not really suitable for planting aquatic plants with, as it is too nutrient rich.

 

Sorry, but I have to disagree.

Water features are not ponds, water features are generally objects with water running down them that are then standing in a sump, independent of anything else.



To oxygenate a pond you need to have either a fast flowing jet or a high jet, both of which break the water surface tension "violently" mixing in air as they do so.

Doing this creates splash which some plants do not like. A slow flowing or "gentle jet" is just not up to the task of oxygenating a pond.

You can get foaming "nozzles"

These use the venturi effect to oxygenate the water, turning it white, but again, some plants will not like these either.

A trickling pump is not powerful enough to oxygenate the water or run a foaming nozzle, so would be a complete waste of time and money.





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Instant tip:

A shelf for marginals is often 40cm wide to allow for plant foliage not to overbalance the pot in which it grows.

As your pond will be small.

I suggest if you want a marginal plant you use an upturned pot and stand a plant pot on that, as in this case a shelf will take up most of the pond.

 

Hi - Watergarden :DOH:.....oops think we are at the bridge of misunderstanding here re my term water feature!
I am a naturalistic pond fanatic..we actually have 5 in our garden - 2 of which have what we call water features...3 have pumps in! Additionally they do not do any 'swooshing' or 'gushing' but they do keep the water moving slowly and our fish in hot weather congregate around that area where the water slops in as it does break the surface a bit. We only use the pumps in hot spells. So the fish do definitely feel a benefit. We used to loose fish in the hot till we got the pumps. I agree you are right though in the fact that only a big fountain would totally do the full oxygenating job. However we rely on plenty of oxygenating weeds too.
Our 'features' consist of a half broken urn on its side at the end of one pond, a converted water pump and an old cow shed water bowl!!!
All our ponds are topped up automatically with the rainfall from either our house or garden shed roofs via a series of underground pipes/feeds. This also helps to keep them sweet!
Not very modern/'Dermot' I'm afraid but they look right in our garden!
MUST have a go at putting a photo on here.......the tall square one on your reply - is this in your garden then?.....looks great!