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Natural Pond
i have very heavy clay so even after digging just one foot hit a thick layer of heavy clay. Therefore my husband decided to dig out a large pond which is only one foot deep. Wildlife love it but the grass seems to still manage to grow through. Anyone know how deep it should be to avoid this? Thanks
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How long have you had it? I would have thought that though the grass could survive initially, as it can if the field is flooded (think water meadows) it would succumb eventually. Our natural pond is only a little deeper than yours at the edges (silting up again), we have no problem with grass, but it wouldn't stand a chance, we have ducks! When we first came here though, it was nearly completely full of silt (it is fed from a natural spring) and covered with float grass. We had it dug out and it was originally much deeper, over 3ft in the middle, grass has never been a problem since.
really it needs to be deeper than a foot, I a really cold winter (like 2010) it could freeze solid and kill anything living in it. it needs to have a deeper section maybe 2 -3 foot deep at some point (even if its only the size of two bathtubs) it'll act as a refuge for any wildlife.
as for the grass, its a natural pond and you're going to get it, but you could plant other plants that will push it back a bit like purple loosestrife, yellow flag etc.
I have a small pond by my front door. Not sure what the original purpose of it was, as the previous owners built it. It is less than a foot deep, and we have all manner of wildlife in it, newts, snails, frogs etc. We get very cold winters here -20c at times, and the animals all survive without any problem.
I don't have fish, so no idea if they would survive or not.
It's a great watering hole for the hedgehogs too.
We don't have a problem with grass as it is lined with concrete, but it does get grass growing in it, I think that must come from the seeds that are blowing around.