Pond project - Spring 2010
Let the project begin
Ready for water
And now some plants
After years of wanting a pond I finally achieved my aim this spring. I had bought the round wooden poles last November but the extreme winter conditions ruled out any progress.
I started, in April, by constructing an approximate half-round palisade of poles to allow me to raise the level of the back of the pond, there being a slope on the garden.
By May I had completed the palisade and rough-lined the pond with old plastic bags that I had been collecting from sand, ballast, compost etc.
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By the end of May the water was in, but only after a false start when I put grit in the pond as an earth substitute, only to find that it turned the water orange! I had to bale the water out, remove the grit and in its place used washed pebbles.
Unfortunately this disaster used up all my rain water storage so I had to refill the pond with tap water, which is not recommended because of its high nutrient content. Sure enough, by 10 June the water had turned green with algae.
Some logs from my neighbour extended the pond boundary on the right and York stone collected from another neighbour (who was going to dispose of it) formed a rockery on the left.
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A week later the water had cleared, possibly because the introduced plants had started to use up some of the nutrients.
By early July, with some more plants and the rockery planted, the project was effectively completed. However, the drought conditions (note colour of grass) meant I had to top up the pond with tap water again.
Not much noticeable pond life had appeared at this stage although there was lots of microscopic stuff swimming around. The birds were, however, making full use of the facilities for drinking and bathing. Next spring will probably be more interesting when everything has settled down and the plant growth has matured. Let’s hope also that some winter rain will top up the pond and replenish the water butts.
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