Forum home› Wildlife gardening
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

New frog/wildlife pond

dugsa3dugsa3 Posts: 5
in Wildlife gardening
Hi! I’ve just finished building my wildlife pond, but I’m having difficulty preventing the cobbles/stones from
rolling in and also hiding the liner. Any suggestions? Thanks 

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    You need soil around the edge and grow plants in it, Stones will forever roll back in there. If you want to attract wildlife you have to provide lots of plant cover for the creatures to hide in. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    A raised shelf of soil under the lining, at the water level you require will prevent the pebbles slipping into the pond. From the picture you have provided the sides are too steep to hold the pebbles in place and if you have a visiting hedgehog or even a cat wanting a drink of pond water you may find the pebbles will slip into the pond even more than they are now.
  • brooksmichelle6716brooksmichelle6716 Posts: 15
    Your pond looks fab!!
    I have just made a wildlife pond in my Nursery garden for the children. I’m a complete novice and even if I do say so myself it’s pretty good. I too have used pebbles and large stones but I’ve left gaps and in the gaps I’ve cut a cross in the liner and planted creeping Jenny which is a lovey plant and can be easily controlled. 
  • dugsa3dugsa3 Posts: 5
    brooksmichelle6716 said:
    Your pond looks fab!!
    I have just made a wildlife pond in my Nursery garden for the children. I’m a complete novice and even if I do say so myself it’s pretty good. I too have used pebbles and large stones but I’ve left gaps and in the gaps I’ve cut a cross in the liner and planted creeping Jenny which is a lovey plant and can be easily controlled. 
    Thank you! I do intend to plant around the pond, was just trying to get the actual pond right first! I’ve added some pond plants yesterday. Your idea of cutting through the liner is great, I had wondered about it but wasn’t sure if that would be ok? The pebbles around the edge are covering the liner 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    As long as you’re cutting above the planned ‘high water mark’ 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • dugsa3dugsa3 Posts: 5
    philippa smith2 said:
    Obviously a new pond but if the depth of water is where it appears to be ( ie where the liner is showing ), you really just have a sink hole at the moment.
    Increasing the depth  and width of the pond would be ideal but if that is not an option, removing a good number of the pebbles and replacing with soil and planting would certainly help.
    All sorts of creatures will want to access your pond but scrambling up and down a mountain of pebbles will not be their ideal.
    If you have some pond liner left, utilising it for a boggy area would certainly add appeal for your visitors :)
    There are a number of threads on the forum re Wildlife Ponds - may be worth a look ?
    Thanks for the feedback. The pond is 0.6 metres at its deepest, and the shelves are 0.3. We took the suggested depths from various wildlife and frog pond pages. The stones on the back slope are a beach to help wildlife get in and out - so hope they do like using it!  Can you tell me how to make a boggy area with spare liner please? 
  • MissMMissM Posts: 36
    I have stuck pebbles to the liner with a waterproof gunk - clear. So where I have liner exposed I am covering it... I'll look up what it is if you like.
Sign In or Register to comment.