That's looking good Paul! I've been keeping my distance from the pond for a couple of weeks and last night I took a look and its teeming with life. Little wrigglers and some weird slow moving black dots and the ever present white teeny tinies. The mini water lily is waking up too.
Hi Phil, I've enjoyed reading your thread. You've made a lovely pond and as they say, build it and they will come! But I'm impatient too so I'll tell you my story. A month ago I decided I wanted a pond. I'm fit, stubborn and on a limited budget. I have a shed full of junk and have always collected interesting stones. I dug a natural looking shaped hole with a shallow end as I knew I wanted birds to be able to bath. I made it a foot and a half deep in the centre with sloping sides. I lined it with an old sleeping bag I had laying around and splashed out twenty quid on a pond liner. I was lucky to find someone giving away large boulders on my local freecycle. I used my collection of stones to hold down the edges and an old branch to separate the shallow end. For a week I couldn't understand why my water level kept going down until I looked at the edges and had a move about of stones. Anyway. I'm impatient too and as I'm a gardener I had a client who's pond was over crowded. I took buckets of sludge from the bottom of her pond to establish all the right microbes etc. And then the next trip, more pond water with pond plants, then the next trip I came back with four newts, some tadpoles and dragonfly lava. So yes I cheated but they needed rehoming and pond watching is so much more fun now!!! 😊
That looks great @WonkyWomble, just shows you what can be done without having to spend a fortune. All I would say is as you have brought newts AND tadpoles, you might not have the tadpoles very long!
Haha! Yes Jellyfire! Realised that I basically transplanted newts and newtfood! Hence the tadpoles not being named yet!! Newt names are Tandy Newton, Isaac Newton, Olivia Newton John and Minute!! 😂😂
lol, love the names, we have been inundated with newts this year, havent seen a tadpole for about two weeks though, and they are all looking very plump
Looks good Wonky! Given the frankly insane amount of tadpoles in our pond, I am going to assume that we don't have any newts (yet). Tadpoles have been chomping through some of our more delicate pond plants, so we've started supplementing their diet with boiled lettuce. They seem to like it!
Oh wow!! There an excuse to grow salad Matt! 😉 I've just seen a tadpole swimming for its life and two determined newts on its tail....I've made a lot of little hiding places luckily! I remember your pond build Jellyfire! I think your not far from me, I'm in Ipswich. How's it looking now? 😊
I think you are going to need a bigger lettuce matt! They will likely be at or getting to the carnivourous stage now, so will need some meat if you dont want them eating each other. If you are not squeamish, chop a worm in two and drop it in, if they attack it like they are that lettuce then you might need to supplement their diet!
Yep wonky, Im just near Diss. Pond is thriving, we had our first frogspawn (RIP), newts are breeding, and we even have a resident water shrew, who Ive seen swimming along the bottom of the pond! Lots of little frogs (presumably last years tadpoles which we got from nearby friends pond) in the plants around the edges. Its just had its first year anniversary, you will love having one, they give so much entertainment, we spend literally hours staring into it
Wow your pond is magnificent @Jellyfire, especially for being just a year old. I am very keen to achieve natural edges for ours like you have. Any tips on plants? I've got some creeping jenny, marsh marigold and water forget-me-nots amongst a few others, and some unknown wildflowers from a Suttons "pond edge" mix around the edges. I'm keen to keep everything native and wildlife friendly, of course. Is yours a sloped liner up to the edge?
Jellyfire that's gorgeous! What a difference a year makes! It's naturalized really well hasn't it!! I wasn't hoping much for the success of your tadpoles when you said HAD tadpoles..... fat newts also haha! I'd love a shrew!!!
Posts
A month ago I decided I wanted a pond. I'm fit, stubborn and on a limited budget. I have a shed full of junk and have always collected interesting stones.
I dug a natural looking shaped hole with a shallow end as I knew I wanted birds to be able to bath. I made it a foot and a half deep in the centre with sloping sides. I lined it with an old sleeping bag I had laying around and splashed out twenty quid on a pond liner.
I was lucky to find someone giving away large boulders on my local freecycle.
I used my collection of stones to hold down the edges and an old branch to separate the shallow end.
For a week I couldn't understand why my water level kept going down until I looked at the edges and had a move about of stones.
Anyway. I'm impatient too and as I'm a gardener I had a client who's pond was over crowded. I took buckets of sludge from the bottom of her pond to establish all the right microbes etc. And then the next trip, more pond water with pond plants, then the next trip I came back with four newts, some tadpoles and dragonfly lava.
So yes I cheated but they needed rehoming and pond watching is so much more fun now!!! 😊
I remember your pond build Jellyfire! I think your not far from me, I'm in Ipswich. How's it looking now? 😊
Yep wonky, Im just near Diss. Pond is thriving, we had our first frogspawn (RIP), newts are breeding, and we even have a resident water shrew, who Ive seen swimming along the bottom of the pond! Lots of little frogs (presumably last years tadpoles which we got from nearby friends pond) in the plants around the edges. Its just had its first year anniversary, you will love having one, they give so much entertainment, we spend literally hours staring into it