"A wildlife garden without a pond is like a theatre without a stage" ( Chris Baines). The water becomes the focal point for all wildlife as well as the home of some of the most striking of our native plants. By creating a pond and/or wetlands, no matter how small, you will be doing something to help redress the disappearance of natural wetlands brought about by agricultural 'progress' and housing developments.

Apart from the heavy work of digging out a hole, the actual construction of a garden pond couldn't be easier. New products are readily available from garden centres and D.I.Y. stores which virtually guarantee that you can build a waterproof pond. Preformed fibreglass shells of all shapes and sizes abound. They do have a couple of drawbacks. The vertical edges make it difficult for small mammals to get out, which can be overcome by piling stones up to form a landing stage; and the steep slopes and shiny surfaces make it difficult to cover the bottom with soil or gravel where vegetation can grow naturally instead of in containers. Plastic or rubber sheeting specifically designed for garden ponds is widely available. This enables you to design your own pond to the shape and dimensions which best suits your garden. Briefly, you need to:-

  1. Choose a light, sunny position, preferably visible from your house and not over-hung by trees.
  2. Possibly link it to a woodland edge and/or a meadow grassland.
  3. Mark out the shape.
  4. Dig a saucer shaped hole. Make sure that there are shallow marginal edges and ideally a 600mm deep part. You will need to dig out another 150mm all over to accommodate the lining.
  5. Make sure that there are no sharp stones etc., then line with 50mm of sand or a polypropylene matting.
  6. Place the liner over the hole ensuring that there is a generous overlap, gently ease down over the slopes and weight the edges with bricks or other smooth objects.
  7. Lay a protective covering of newspaper or matting on top.
  8. Cover with sub-soil or gravel.
  9. Let water trickle into the hole.
This is merely an outline. Fuller and more entertaining directions are given in Chris Baines' book 'How to make a Wildlife Garden'

Planting is best done in April or early May. You will require:-

  1. Oxygenators, plants which spread across the bottom.
  2. Deep water plants with roots in the bottom and floating leaves.
  3. Plants for shallow margins.
  4. Plants for marshy, waterlogged ground.

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