Documenting failure is also important. Sadly, I was weak and gave up on a liner-free natural pond, but look how pretty! It will still host wildlife, and that was the goal.
Well done. I have dug two tiny ponds which uses a rigid black plastic. My biggest issue has been mosquitos and I'm quite allergic to them. I was not able to find a decent solution to stop them breeding. I used two solar powered oxygenators but they were still not enough so I reluctantly put in two goldfish which eat a lot of the insects. Still, each year, I get a few frogs in each one and birds come and take a drink.
We have not had a problem with mosquitos, and that was also our biggest worry. The solar powered bubbler fountains seem to work. Dragonflies and frogs when they come will be the solution if that's not enough! We do already have lots of non-water birds like blackbirds, finches and magpies.
This is very educational and I love how many permaculture principles you worked in there! This cracked me me: "A big hole in our garden for almost two years, was not aesthetically pleasing to the other person who also lives with me here, so I finally gave in. My least favourite permaculture ethic ‘people care’ kicked in."
That’s amazing. We are wanting to dig a pond in our garden too. We have lots of small bird baths dotted around the garden which has brought in a lot more wildlife but we would love a pond too so we get frogs, newts, dragonflies and toads.
I hope you will just go for it! It really was not difficult at all, just slow because I was trying out all these different ideas. My colleague Leonie, is sticking with the non-liner natural pond goal even with sandy soil and I will ask her to give us an update this spring on how that's going.
I can't believe you did that by hand! Well done!
It's not very big and my husband helped to dig! The soil here is very loose and airy too.
Well done. I have dug two tiny ponds which uses a rigid black plastic. My biggest issue has been mosquitos and I'm quite allergic to them. I was not able to find a decent solution to stop them breeding. I used two solar powered oxygenators but they were still not enough so I reluctantly put in two goldfish which eat a lot of the insects. Still, each year, I get a few frogs in each one and birds come and take a drink.
We have not had a problem with mosquitos, and that was also our biggest worry. The solar powered bubbler fountains seem to work. Dragonflies and frogs when they come will be the solution if that's not enough! We do already have lots of non-water birds like blackbirds, finches and magpies.
This is very educational and I love how many permaculture principles you worked in there! This cracked me me: "A big hole in our garden for almost two years, was not aesthetically pleasing to the other person who also lives with me here, so I finally gave in. My least favourite permaculture ethic ‘people care’ kicked in."
😂
That’s amazing. We are wanting to dig a pond in our garden too. We have lots of small bird baths dotted around the garden which has brought in a lot more wildlife but we would love a pond too so we get frogs, newts, dragonflies and toads.
I hope you will just go for it! It really was not difficult at all, just slow because I was trying out all these different ideas. My colleague Leonie, is sticking with the non-liner natural pond goal even with sandy soil and I will ask her to give us an update this spring on how that's going.