christine - its not essential to concrete the edges of the pond. With mine, I dug it out in a lawn so had turves I could lay over the excess liner. You have some gravel there that you could use. Do you have any largish stones? You could use those to weigh the edges down. Once you lay the liner into the hole, the weight of water holds the liner in place. Here are some pics of mine that might help to make things clearer
Fishy what a lovely pond, and what a great idea with the grass, i am sure i could try to find some large stones, how i get them home no idea lol, but thats gave me more of an idea on how to do it, thank you. Will be sure to show you pics of stages when i get round to starting it.
That's very kind of you to say christie. I'm sure you will get your pond looking great. You 'can' buy stones from garden centres but obviously they will cost you. The edges were the part that caused some head scratching for me too, so you're not alone. But remember that birds,amphibians and insects are easily pleased and will be just grateful for the water. As long as you try to incorporate some nice shallow water around the perimeter, you can't go far wrong. Keep us posted and all the best
You will almost certainly get an algae bloom christine. About two weeks after I took these pics my water went green and frothy with a scum on top. But don't worry because its temporary and once the algae uses up the nutrients in the water it will clear again. This can be sped up by introducing water plants early on as they will compete with the algae for those nutrients. My water is now as clear again as it is in those pictures.
You will eventually get blanket weed as your pond matures but you can use a bamboo cane or something similar to twirl it round and pull it out. Building a pond can seem daunting at first but its not as hard as it looks. And you'll never regret it
Alan Titchmarsh did an episode on making a pond in his series 'How to be a Gardener' The pond he made was a lot larger than what you are planning and he had a fancy decking area at one end but it's still well worth a watch as it contains loads of practical advice about how to get the right size liner, how to cover the edging etc. I simply googled 'Alan Titchmarsh' and 'Pond' and found the programme on line.
I haven't had any problems with algal bloom, my water is always crystal clear but I have a water butt with the overflow plumbed into the pond via a trench. It means I never have to worry about filling up the pond and certainly don't have to worry about refreshing the water each year. The overflow from the pond goes into a bog garden. I put the pond in in August last too by coincidence. I would buy your pond plants from Naturescape because they will inevitably come with some wonderful hitchhikers unlike the other pond plants I bought from anywhere else. On day one of adding my plants (quarantined first in a plastic trug filled on the day of ordering the plants to ensure no chlorine left, quarantined for duck weed above all else) I had at least two leaches I've now got at least 6, at least 5 dragonfly larvae, now got too many to count, too many to count common pond snail eggs and consequently now got a pond full of snails which keep everything spotless. I also bought 10 adult snails of each kind black ramshorn, red ramshorn and common pond, needless to say it's also full of whirligigs and water boatmen, now numerous frogs and at least one newt. All this in just a few months. It just shows how desperate our wildlife is for a home. My pond is just over two meters by 1.5. I used a preformed liner because of fears of my dogs turning a butyl liner into a sieve but they've been really, really good and I needn't have worried. There's so many videos on Youtube and loads of good websites for advice. Above all just do it. You'll be hooked. I'm already planning another bog garden and smaller pond for the plants I got carried away with and ordered.
Alan Titchmarsh did an episode on making a pond in his series 'How to be a Gardener' The pond he made was a lot larger than what you are planning and he had a fancy decking area at one end but it's still well worth a watch as it contains loads of practical advice about how to get the right size liner, how to cover the edging etc. I simply googled 'Alan Titchmarsh' and 'Pond' and found the programme on line.
Thats great, thank you, will watch that tonight, wish Alan would make another series loved his programmes.
I haven't had any problems with algal bloom, my water is always crystal clear but I have a water butt with the overflow plumbed into the pond via a trench. It means I never have to worry about filling up the pond and certainly don't have to worry about refreshing the water each year. The overflow from the pond goes into a bog garden. I put the pond in in August last too by coincidence. I would buy your pond plants from Naturescape because they will inevitably come with some wonderful hitchhikers unlike the other pond plants I bought from anywhere else. On day one of adding my plants (quarantined first in a plastic trug filled on the day of ordering the plants to ensure no chlorine left, quarantined for duck weed above all else) I had at least two leaches I've now got at least 6, at least 5 dragonfly larvae, now got too many to count, too many to count common pond snail eggs and consequently now got a pond full of snails which keep everything spotless. I also bought 10 adult snails of each kind black ramshorn, red ramshorn and common pond, needless to say it's also full of whirligigs and water boatmen, now numerous frogs and at least one newt. All this in just a few months. It just shows how desperate our wildlife is for a home. My pond is just over two meters by 1.5. I used a preformed liner because of fears of my dogs turning a butyl liner into a sieve but they've been really, really good and I needn't have worried. There's so many videos on Youtube and loads of good websites for advice. Above all just do it. You'll be hooked. I'm already planning another bog garden and smaller pond for the plants I got carried away with and ordered.
Wow thats amazing, you got all that wildlife in just 2 months, just shows yes how desp they are for homes, im working up the courage to start, just worried i make an eyesore that i cannot fix lol.
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Fishy what a lovely pond, and what a great idea with the grass, i am sure i could try to find some large stones, how i get them home no idea lol, but thats gave me more of an idea on how to do it, thank you. Will be sure to show you pics of stages when i get round to starting it.
That's very kind of you to say christie. I'm sure you will get your pond looking great. You 'can' buy stones from garden centres but obviously they will cost you. The edges were the part that caused some head scratching for me too, so you're not alone. But remember that birds,amphibians and insects are easily pleased and will be just grateful for the water. As long as you try to incorporate some nice shallow water around the perimeter, you can't go far wrong. Keep us posted and all the best
Thanks Fishy i will keep you updated, its in a part where sun will be for a while, will this make it go green and covered in algae?
You will almost certainly get an algae bloom christine. About two weeks after I took these pics my water went green and frothy with a scum on top. But don't worry because its temporary and once the algae uses up the nutrients in the water it will clear again. This can be sped up by introducing water plants early on as they will compete with the algae for those nutrients. My water is now as clear again as it is in those pictures.
You will eventually get blanket weed as your pond matures but you can use a bamboo cane or something similar to twirl it round and pull it out. Building a pond can seem daunting at first but its not as hard as it looks. And you'll never regret it
Ok thats fine, thank you. xxxx
Alan Titchmarsh did an episode on making a pond in his series 'How to be a Gardener' The pond he made was a lot larger than what you are planning and he had a fancy decking area at one end but it's still well worth a watch as it contains loads of practical advice about how to get the right size liner, how to cover the edging etc. I simply googled 'Alan Titchmarsh' and 'Pond' and found the programme on line.
I haven't had any problems with algal bloom, my water is always crystal clear but I have a water butt with the overflow plumbed into the pond via a trench. It means I never have to worry about filling up the pond and certainly don't have to worry about refreshing the water each year. The overflow from the pond goes into a bog garden. I put the pond in in August last too by coincidence. I would buy your pond plants from Naturescape because they will inevitably come with some wonderful hitchhikers unlike the other pond plants I bought from anywhere else. On day one of adding my plants (quarantined first in a plastic trug filled on the day of ordering the plants to ensure no chlorine left, quarantined for duck weed above all else) I had at least two leaches I've now got at least 6, at least 5 dragonfly larvae, now got too many to count, too many to count common pond snail eggs and consequently now got a pond full of snails which keep everything spotless. I also bought 10 adult snails of each kind black ramshorn, red ramshorn and common pond, needless to say it's also full of whirligigs and water boatmen, now numerous frogs and at least one newt. All this in just a few months. It just shows how desperate our wildlife is for a home. My pond is just over two meters by 1.5. I used a preformed liner because of fears of my dogs turning a butyl liner into a sieve but they've been really, really good and I needn't have worried. There's so many videos on Youtube and loads of good websites for advice. Above all just do it. You'll be hooked. I'm already planning another bog garden and smaller pond for the plants I got carried away with and ordered.
Thats great, thank you, will watch that tonight, wish Alan would make another series loved his programmes.
Wow thats amazing, you got all that wildlife in just 2 months, just shows yes how desp they are for homes, im working up the courage to start, just worried i make an eyesore that i cannot fix lol.
Can i leave the wood in on the side that its stuck in and try to tidy up other side?