Starting A Small Garden Pond

You only need one or two plants.

Starting a small garden pond.

For this pond we re using large flagstones filling in and supporting them with smaller beach pebbles. Building your own small pond. And the wildlife themselves seem to agree. Dig out an area for your pond according to the plan that you are following.

Dig your pond so the the edges gradually taper down if possible. Now watch and wait. The wildlife trust says that you should have a minimum of 4 5 square metres of water which would be a pond about 6ft across. It is best to put in plants in special aquatic plant pots which have mesh sides.

You could build an inground 4 6 foot pond using a pond form and a submersible pump for a few hundred dollars. You can buy these from garden centres or specialist pond suppliers. Keeping it attractive and trouble free takes work but with a little extra care at the planning and building stages you can create a pond that s almost maintenance free. Below you will find the steps for how to build a small pond.

We ll use pond foam to seal things together. Plant up your pond. Submerged pondweed is vital to help the pond stay clear always use native plants in ponds rigid hornwort and whorled water milfoil are recommended. Choose a location a miniature garden pond should be located where it can get four to six hours of sunlight.

How to build a small pond. Line the interior of the pond with the pond underlayment and liner. A backyard garden pond with running water floating plants and darting fish can make a bland space breathtaking. This will help to keep the pond healthy and clean.

Above ground ponds can be built in any water tight large container. This pond was built in an old hot tub. Your pond will need an access area for frogs and other creatures to get in and out. I made my above ground pond by building a raised garden bed and inserting a prefabricated pond form like the one pictured above also called a rigid pond liner.

Great plants for small ponds include miniature waterlily nymphaea pygmaea helvola lesser spearwort ranunculus flammula starwort callitriche stagnalis flowering rush butomus umbellatus click here for more plant ideas. When the hole is dug make sure there aren t any stones or sharp objects that could puncture the lining. Build up the waterfall and fill in the area around the pond with rocks to make it look more natural and hide the liners. We re also using egg rock and pea gravel.

This will depend on the size and depth of the pond if you need to buy materials like rocks to line the pond and the cost of any landscaping and plants both for the pond and surrounding it. These galvanized water troughs are a popular choice right now. But the rspb says that any water is helpful. Use a very low nutrient soil you can buy special soil for ponds mixed with grit.

Wildlife will come to your pond of its own accord. Even a washing up bowl is big enough to be a wildlife pond. Avoid placing the pond where runoff from rain will run into the water.