anyone made their own pond? I want one on my allotment.

[fullmoonfiend]

I have googled pond-making so much my head is spinning. I want a wildlife pond on my allotment. Where is the best lace to site it? How big does it have to be?
How hard was it to actually do it.. etc etc.

place

I remember my step-dad making my mum a pond when I was a teen, it seemed quite simple tbh.

It was about 4foot deep in the middle, with two 'steps' on the side that were only about 2foot deep for plants and fountain etc.

It was about 7foot across by about 4foot, kidney shape, one day he dug it out, the next day he made sure there were absolutely no stones and put old carpet round it, then he lined it and put bricks with cement round the outside, filled it with water, hey presto.

He did a few of their friends ponds too, and always did it really quickly so I'd imagine it's not too hard at all.

Only thing he did have to take a bit of time with was the filter, but that's because he built bricks aroudn it to hide it.

A wildlife pond is a bit more involved than an ornamental one and takes longer to establish, the good thing is you don't have to faff about with pumps and filters, you need loads of oxygenating plants to do this instead. Best to make it as big as poss and quite deep because in the summer the water level will drop and after the initial fill its best not to put tap water in, if you have a shed nearby you can run some guttering to it to help keep it topped up, traditionally natural ponds are sealed with clay rather than liners but I think this can be a bit tricky, if you use a liner it then needs to be covered with a layer of sand and then a layer of soil for bugs and stuff to lay eggs in. At least one edge really needs to taper in rather than step down and have some stones on it, this is so frogs and newts can get in and out. Its not that hard to make but it takes some time to settle, native plants etc to go in it are quite easy to find. I hope this helps, it realy is fun to do, especially if you hire a little digger to play with!!