Pond Location.. ?

Hi,

Wondered if this site would be a good location for a wildlife only pond ?

Our smallish south facing garden slopes gently downwards away from the house, but the left hand far corner collects all the rainwater and can flood an area of a few square mtrs and upto 200mm deep, though it does drain away quiet well after a day or so through the clayish slity soil as the surrounding gardens are generally lower.

Its protected on two sides by fencing and so is nw facing and it does not get a load of sunshine, mostly late afternoon onwards in summer.

Would it be a good place to make a smallish wildlife only pond and surrounding boggy planting area or would the regular winter and sometimes heavy summer rain flooding just upset things too much ?

 

Go for it. Ponds are great. Sounds like a good spot. Make it deep enough with a beach. An overflow drain is needed too just in case.

 

Hi,

Just wasn't sure if it was too shady or the flood water would cause any real problems.

We have a small hidden pond behind the veg plot with a few plants in but you be nice to be able to see something in view as we can only ever see the top of the Caltha when in flower.

Got some Hostas in tubs which are ready for division so would make good bog plants

 

Sounds ideal @ricky101 , it will look most natural in a place that already collects rain water. As you are planning it for wildlife, the natural flooding and occasional dry periods should be just fine, and in fact will probably enhance the diversity of wildlife you will get.

Crickey I'm green with envy. Please do post photos on the progress!

 

The area does look a bit of a straggley mess though the angle of the pic makes the front to back distance of the water look small, is actually3 -4 ft .

There's already is a soakaway going around the rear Holly bush, but with the deluges we get these days its become too frequent and some of the pants in that area do not survive the winter.

Time to do some sketches to see what layout we can devise.

 

When we lived in Pebbles, Bexhill the terrain was very steep and we made a couple of wildlife ponds with a stream in between in the front garden that was bigger than the back one so could take it easily....I would use some rocks around yours to give it some different levels where you could also add some rockery plants that do not necessarily need to be in the water..or a back drop of rocks..you would not have to disturb the plants you have in the corner, either.