Just to show it happened to us as well, I went for a natural clay pond, it's due renovation this year, this was the scene 6 years ago, we did eventually rescue Ronnie the Rotavator and create a great pond.
This makes me feel much better! Mud soup! Once I've got the rest of the soil and pebbles in, filled it up, planted it up and trimmed and covered the liner and underlay edges , it should at least look like a tidy, muddy puddle! Will definitely share pics of the finished product and hopefully a bit further down the line when the plug plants have grown up and it's established it will look much nicer so will share pics then too. It really has been a labour of love!
Gosh, I sympathise with you. I thought, just make a little frog pond. Weeks — and aching muscles later, I am still mystified as to whether or not I am doing this right. Some books say don’t use subsoil, others say do use an extra underlay and subsoil. I want to get it right after so so much work and don’t see how I can. I bought my kit from the RSPB, and it doesn’t call for an extra underlay or subsoil.
@6bhpsmp272e-jg6Vft I had the same problem in trying to work out the best thing to do re subsoil. If I could do it all again I would probably not use baskets instead - on the plus side the plants germinate easily in subsoil and you can have a beautiful plant filled pond within a year, and the wildlife loves the soil. But the downside is you can't have a pump and although technically you aren't supposed to need it with a wildlife pond, because mine is in full sun I do struggle with keeping the water clear (though again perhaps that's not the point with a wildlife pond!). I'd also have liked to have some movement in the pond with some kind of water feature, but again you need a pump for that.
@Fire having said that, I absolutely love my pond! It does have a tendancy to look a bit bedraggled and I think in a few years I'm going to be overun by reeds and plants, but the wildlife absolutely loves it - it's full of frogs, dragonflies ever day (so many different ones, including Emperors), and the birds use it as their personal local baths all summer!
Here are some pictures... it's covered up for autumn now and had a tidy up, so I've also included some pics of earlier in the year. It's still a work in progress, particulary with covering up the edge of the pond liner but I've found that a combo of grasses and creeping thyme has done the best job. This is it 2 - 2.5 years after completion.
If it's covered up it will stop the birds coming to bathe and drink. I would remove the mesh, which I guess you will do once the leaves have fallen. I have a largish wildlife pond with bushes on one side. I take the view that the leaves will create sediment on the bottom which will be good for the wildlife.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
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Hired pump:
@Fire having said that, I absolutely love my pond! It does have a tendancy to look a bit bedraggled and I think in a few years I'm going to be overun by reeds and plants, but the wildlife absolutely loves it - it's full of frogs, dragonflies ever day (so many different ones, including Emperors), and the birds use it as their personal local baths all summer!
Here are some pictures... it's covered up for autumn now and had a tidy up, so I've also included some pics of earlier in the year. It's still a work in progress, particulary with covering up the edge of the pond liner but I've found that a combo of grasses and creeping thyme has done the best job. This is it 2 - 2.5 years after completion.