At the idle thinking stage. Mentioned it in my border thread but wondering how easy it is to put a pond in and what would be involved? Tis rather a shady area 2.5mx2.5m . Would like it all natural and wildlifey. (I guess I might regret it when Bad Cat brings in the wildlife though)
What do you reckon?
please ignore this - mumblechum has kindly pointed out that it would fill up with leaves. oh well, nice idea.
You could put a net over it to catch leaves, or a metal grill. My pond is underneath my fatsia and it doesn't get bunged up too badly. You can hire pondvacs to give it a clear out, I do mine every other year.
It is great for wildlife, I don't have too many frogs (thank you, cats) but it brings the hedgehogs in and as a result I have very few slugs in my garden. Lot of hedgehog poo though.
oooo, you've put it back into the equation. I shall rethink my rethinking!
echt
Tue 31-Jan-12 08:38:31
Any safety issues can be taken care of by putting a decent gauge of rebar over the pond, and staking it down with croquet hoop-like sprags. It rusts in an aesthetically pleasing manner and reeds, etc. grow through.
Rebar will take an adult's weight, never mind a child.
I'm gagging to put in a pond in my garden here in Australia, for its beauty and for the beasties' sake when it's dry.
Slightly cacking myself that it might attract snakes, though.
Would you have to keep it topped up echt?
I guess there is some wildlife you really dont want to attract!
oohermrs
Tue 31-Jan-12 12:52:50
We put a pond in when we first moved into our house. I too thought it would be nice to attract wildlife etc. Built it with a slope so hedgehogs & birds could easily drink out of it. Unfortunately our Springer Spaniel just thought it was a big puddle and used to go and lie in it! In the end her claws ripped the lining and it leaked ... end of wildlife pond. Its now a rockery!
That is a very sad ending!
echt
Wed 01-Feb-12 17:45:08
Yes, a pond would need topping up, though I'm thinking of only a small one, perhaps 6 by 4 max.
The snakes do bother me, as the fence on one side has holes at the bottom - most Australian gardens/yards have fences very tight all round. I should say I've never seen a snake here in the suburbs, but they're definitely around, and they do like ponds in hot weather.
A bit worried about the dog, as I don't think there are any non-lethal snakes in Australia.
A good UK pond story is of a friend who stocked the pond with koi and not only did a heron scoff nearly all of them, but stabbed through the liner with its beak.
lol at the heron! when we moved here we looked out of a bedroom window and noted that a)the neighbours had a couple of ponds, one looking very serious and b) The whole garden was strung with fishing line running along at head height. Turned out it was anti-heron tactics.
I can see why the snakes would bother you, I think that would be rather an issue.
