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Pond Profile

theBadCormoranttheBadCormorant Posts: 26
in Problem solving

I am about to start and dig a pond, its going to be about 4 metres in diameter, what width should the ledges be and at what depths?

 

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  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    I have only just finished our pond so I am not an expert, this will bump your query up to the top for everyone to see.

    i did a ledge 6inches down, about a foot wide, then another at a foot down same width, the bottom is about 3ft, one end is a fairly flat sloppy bit, I will make a beach, then if anything like hedgehogs fall in, they can just climb out. That will be filled with gravel

    but I don't know if I have done right, at the moment it's half full, must be rain water,  I have some plants in pots, with the proper pond soil and chippings on the top to stop the soil floating out.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Lyn's advice is good BC. Marginals need around 4"/6" of water and the width of the shelf depends on how big a plant you're putting there. A smaller pond wouldn't need it so wide.  If you don't want to bother with a lower shelf, you can put planting for deeper areas on bricks in the bottom of the pond to get them at the desired height. It largely depends on the depth of the pond and what sort of planting you want to put in it as well. Remember to make some room for planting round about it - for wildlife to hide in. image

    We'd like pix of all these new ponds please! imageimage

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    Fairy girl, On this thread for photos or will you start another, or should we find the original one?

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • theBadCormoranttheBadCormorant Posts: 26

     

    Fairygirl -

    We haven't quite got the water in yet - it is going to be semi raised and come up against that dam shaped wall in front of the window

    http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s605/BCfiles/Pond/pond_5904_zps7f774ee1.jpg~original

     

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    Mines just in the grass, need more rain and the edges tweaked, the liner smoothed  and it's done! It's 5 x 3.5  mts. right to the edges.

    image

     

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Brilliant! Sorry haven't been on here since yesterday so didn't see you posts. I think we've got quite a few  pond threads but no reason why you can't just put pix here image

    That's a great plot you have BC -loads of scope. nice to have a pond sited where you can  see it form the house, because during winter as well as on wet days, you can watch the goings on. I had a partly raised pond in  a previous garden and it worked well. My children were young so they could stand there safely  and see things up close image

    Can you see yours from the house Lyn? At my last house we had a big pond which we could see from the conservatory. It was terrific to have so much wildlife which we could watch almost all year round. Too cold in winter as it was too big a room to heat, but we got so much enjoyment from it. I've started a little pond here and will take pix as I go along. Looking forward to seeing all the progress and the final results.

    I do love a pond image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • theBadCormoranttheBadCormorant Posts: 26

    why couldn't I think of something as clever as that - just dig a hole and fill with water, not sure what i am attempting really...

    Is that a plastic liner ?

  • theBadCormoranttheBadCormorant Posts: 26

    on the subject of ponds can anyone identify the stuff in my other pond, I guess the little round floating things is blanket weed. And what is the stuff under the water, I believe it is an oxygenated but what variety ?  it grows like fury and I am always puling masses of it out.

    http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s605/BCfiles/Pond/pondplant_6523_zps2383b19b.jpg~original

     

     

    http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s605/BCfiles/Pond/pondplant_6525_zpsc6cddc4b.jpg~original

     

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    The floaty stuff is duckweed - you can scoop it out with a net and the other stuff is Elodea. It's the most common oxygenator adn alwasy reckoned to be the best, but it does get a bit invasive unfortunately. Blanket weed is manky looking stuff - like thick, gungy, bubbly green soup BC image

    Am I selling it to you? image 

    Your pond looks very clear so the Elodea's doing it's job! When the water heats up in spring that's when blanket weed usually starts to take over. Once you have some cover from floating plants it usually gets better, and the oxygenators help of course.

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • theBadCormoranttheBadCormorant Posts: 26

    I know all about that blanket weed stuff, this pond used to suffer badly from it - then 18 months back I managed to divert some of the rain water from the roof into the pond, potentially up to 40 tons of fresh water should flow through the pond, the blanket weed just vanished, and although we always had frogs, this year the numbers became silly, at one point in the spring we counted 29 frogs on the surface of the water. At one point half the water surface was frogs spawn image

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