Pond ideas

[Itsneverme]

I've decided I would love a pond, please can you show me your DIY ponds and ponds bought really need some inspiration

I was thinking this the other day when I was standing in my DCousins garden admiring his pond

Don't think anyone else has one not many replies lol

This is my pond, in it's second year (it's in its fourth now). Had a man with a digger make the hole, it's 2 feet 6 in the middle, there's a beach with pebbles for anything that falls in to get out. It's for,wildlife, no fish. We have lots of birds, bats toads, dragonflies. It's lovely to just sit by it and watch.

@FizzingAda wow, that's GORGEOUS! I'm about to get a new house with a bigger garden (at least I am if our nightmare buyer pulls her finger out) but I hadn't thought of a pond - is it a lot of work to maintain? (Please say no it's a piece of cake. 😂)

once it's planted up it's low maintenance. You need oxygenators to keep the water clean, and two thirds of the surface covered to keep it clear. But it always goes a bit green in Spring til the cover regrows (water lilies) and floating things. Just need to use a net to remove any leaves from the surface in the autumn. And lots of plant cover round about for critters to hide in. My favourite bit of the garden.

I’ve got a small pond, about 3 foot by 2, lots of tadpoles this year. Just bought a preformed one and dug a hole. Ordered some plants on line for small ponds as not much choice in local garden centre, more aimed at large ponds.

it’s lovely to see the birds using it as a bath tub.

We have a raised pond, about 1 x 1.5m with some small koi in. A sunken pond would’ve been lovely but I know the dog would fall in all the time! I love the noise of the fountain, it’s very relaxing.

My husband has diggers and we have acres of land so I think this is something we will be going for! It's fab

You could create a swimming pond….that is my dream

If you have a wildlife pond it’s best not to surround it with stones or paving. Let grass grow up to the edges to give frogs and newts an easy access point. The baby amphibians can get stuck to paving stones and they’ll essentially fry in hot weather. I have a preformed pond and I wish I’d done it with a liner instead so I could have lots of shelves to put plants on at different depths - instead I’m stuck with the narrow lip of the preformed pond and one small shelf.

Oh a swimming pond, if you can then do it! There's a Tiktok account called Caroline's swimming pond and she had one built in the garden and oh, it's so beautiful!

We just have a plastic box sunken into the ground and it’s amazing the wildlife it attracts… lots of frogs every year. We are knocking down an old garage and want to put a pond in its place among other things (it’s pretty big, 7x3.5m). What’s the best time of year to start up a pond? Perhaps autumn? I don’t know when we will get to do it but a girl can dream…

We could have had a house with one but we aren't big swimmers so no point

I have a half barrel (it's not wooden, it's heavy duty plastic). It's not that deep and I just dug a hole and put it in. It has plants in it but so far, sadly, I just can't get any wildlife to live in it.

The birds love it though, they are always around it and despite being really tiny, it does look nice nestled into the border.

I am toying with getting in a garden company to revamp the garden quite a bit and I have thought about having a proper pond put in. It won't be huge but will be a much bigger than the half barrel I currently have. I don't want fish in it, just another wildlife pond.

Watching this thread to get ideas for type and size of pond other posters have.

We did our pond in the spring, it's not too,late to make one now. This guy on YouTube has lots of pond stuff, and wildlife gardening.

@AnOpinionInTheHand could you stack some bricks on the bottom of your pond to form shelves at different heights?

Just about to build a pond in my new house as I'm so inspired by seeing the birds splash about in my little bird bath that I want to lay on more places for the birds.

I have a tiny container pond and I go out and inspect its progress every day. If I had a gorgeous one like @FizzingAda I’d never get anything done. That’s beautiful.

Autumn is a great time for pond building, it'll settle in over winter

Always build a beached side for creatures to get in and out safely.

Plant up with lovely things like water hawthorn, lilies, iris. Beware the invasion of pendulous sedge as once it gets in, it's a stinker to remove! Look out for invasive weeds like parrot feather.

if it goes green in spring it needs more cover. You might get a duckweed bloom, easy to net out. Barley straw blocks can help clear up the water and prevent future algae issues in new ponds but they find a balance in the end.

Once established they'll provide you with somewhere to sit and watch the world go by, admire the newts, frogs and myriad of life. Watching emerging dragonflies is amazing.

I have a pot pond. Miniature water lily and mint. Has a solar pond splitter. I do have stones so that if anything fails in, there's a way out. Pigeons have a nice bath too!

Ours is tiny and about 5 years old now I think. Tons of tadpoles and frogs. So glad we made it.
Will take a photo of how it looks today and post later.

We made this one at Easter for our tadpoles. It’s an old sandpit we had in the shed. Is next to a stream and is already full of wildlife.

It’s a lot less hassle than a lawn, and a lot more fun

@Bohemond23 Your sandpit pond is genius and so pretty.

That's a very good point! Chunk out of the lawn then given over to pond. 🐸

@AnOpinionInTheHand yes, add some bricks in or a twiggy branch - then animals can get in and out and you have more ledges for plants.