Reminiscing about my old pond.

My one and only garden project was one that I did around 20 yrs ago. I was living in Surrey at the time and the garden was pretty big, so I decided that I would like to build a pond with fish and a little water fall. I didn't have a clue where to begin so I headed down to my local library and got myself some books on the subject. I had a rough idea of how I would like it but the rest would be left to plan as a I go

Anyway, I was very pleased with how it turned out. It gave me many years of pleasure and at the time I couldn't of planned for anything better. Everything I put into or around the pond just blossomed. We won three tiny goldfish from a local funfair, so I put them in the pond and a year later, there was over 50 fish in the pond (from the original three). Also the fish increased in size and people who saw the pond assumed the fish were Koi (if only!)! All the plants that I put into the water flourished. The pond was also home to frogs and other wildlife. It was incredible. It was more about luck than careful planning, that the pond turned out as successful as it did.

During the long hot spells, the water level would drop because of evaporation so I would roll out a hose and top it up. I would hang the hose in the pond, turn the tap and leave it for 10 or so minutes. Usually I would forget and come out to a pond that had over filled and the excess water would overflow onto the lawn. A couple of days later I would find that the grass on the lawn where the excess water had spilled over onto, would have increased in height way more than the area where the water hadn't reached and it was also lot greener! I started using the water from the pond to water the garden, it really did make a difference to the plant.

I never had any problems with algae. There were oxygenators in the pond and I had a pump with a UV filtration system. It was extremely low maintenance.

Next year I plan to build another pond, I would be very happy if I had the same success as I had with my first pond


This was the initial stage of the pond. I dug it out with a spade. It wasn't as big an effort as some would imagine.



I made a base for the liner by using old carpet that we no longer needed.This would protect the liner from sharp stones etc.



The pond liner was put in place and the pond was filled with water to allow the liner to follow the contours of the pond. I then start to position the rocks. Note that all the excess soil in the background will be used to as part of the water fall. I've also added some water plants and located them in the shallow shelf of the pond.



I've added more decorative stones to the pond and the oxygenators are also in place.




Everything is in place and now it's up to mother nature. The plants around the pond were chosen for their aesthetics. Not much consideration was given to how they would fare long term
Around 6 months later and heading towards winter. The pond has started to establish itself and attracted so much wildlife, at this time, it had given me many months of pleasure.

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What a marvellous job you made of it John it looked lovely looking forward to seeing your new pond next year

 

lovely!

 

Lovely and natural looking. Blends in perfectly.

 

Thanks all

Kindredspirit one of the things i tried to achieve was to blend it into the rest of the garden and try to make it look a natural part of the landscape.

I forgot to mention that it the end of the pond in the foreground i made a transition from shallow to lawn level and filled it with condensed water plants. The main reason was to allow frogs to leave and enter the water without too much difficulty and to give them somewhere to hide. It worked a treat

 

It is really lovely. As a young boy I created a pond- it looks to be a similar size to that one. Instead of the usual pond liner I used my Dad's plastic silage cover (he's a farmer.) almost 20 years on the pond is still going strong, with the original fish! They are incredible little ecosystems and really add so much to a garden.

 

Lovely looking pond sir I like how said above how it blends and looks natural well done