Hello.
I built a 4m by 3m wildlife pond a few years ago. It's my second attempt, and it's been far more successful than the first. I have however, made a couple of mistakes that I would like to rectify. Some are easy and some are less easy.
I followed advice in a book I read and it suggested laying upside down turf in the pond on the shelf and planting directly into it. I was sceptical, and predictably, it's been a disaster. 4 years on, and I am still really struggling with algae and silkweed. I think this is pretty easy to fix though.
The bigger issue is the shelf depth and lack of planting around the gravel beach. I have attached a couple of diagrams. Sorry about the quality, but A is a cross section of the current design, and B is what I am aiming for.
The latest book I have read, suggests putting subsoil on top of the liner (after placing underlay on top of the liner). This can be used as a planting medium. This, coupled with a softer, more gentle sloping edge would allow me to hide the pond liner more effectively. The water level drops by up to 20cm a week in the summer.
It would also allow me to plant into the gravel beach. At the moment, my only option here is to put plant pots on top of the beach. The pots stick out above the water in the summer and it looks a bit unsightly.
I would also like to alter the depth of my planting shelf and add a new inner shelf. At the moment, my plants are in pots and most are raised up on bricks. I would like to raising the level of the shelf that is currently 50cm deep and 30cm wide so that it is around 20cm deep (with 10cm of subsoil to plant in to) and then raising part of the 70cm and 100cm shelf up to 30cm (with 10 cm of subsoil). Has anyone attempted anything similar? Would piling soil into a void and then covering with a liner create something that will compact over time and create a problem in future by sinking? I don't really have room around the side of the pond to create a wider pond.
Given that I am going to have to buy subsoil (I got rid of everything that came out of the pond when I dug it) and buy a new liner, I would really like to get it right this time. Any advice gratefully received.
I built a 4m by 3m wildlife pond a few years ago. It's my second attempt, and it's been far more successful than the first. I have however, made a couple of mistakes that I would like to rectify. Some are easy and some are less easy.
I followed advice in a book I read and it suggested laying upside down turf in the pond on the shelf and planting directly into it. I was sceptical, and predictably, it's been a disaster. 4 years on, and I am still really struggling with algae and silkweed. I think this is pretty easy to fix though.
The bigger issue is the shelf depth and lack of planting around the gravel beach. I have attached a couple of diagrams. Sorry about the quality, but A is a cross section of the current design, and B is what I am aiming for.
The latest book I have read, suggests putting subsoil on top of the liner (after placing underlay on top of the liner). This can be used as a planting medium. This, coupled with a softer, more gentle sloping edge would allow me to hide the pond liner more effectively. The water level drops by up to 20cm a week in the summer.
It would also allow me to plant into the gravel beach. At the moment, my only option here is to put plant pots on top of the beach. The pots stick out above the water in the summer and it looks a bit unsightly.
I would also like to alter the depth of my planting shelf and add a new inner shelf. At the moment, my plants are in pots and most are raised up on bricks. I would like to raising the level of the shelf that is currently 50cm deep and 30cm wide so that it is around 20cm deep (with 10cm of subsoil to plant in to) and then raising part of the 70cm and 100cm shelf up to 30cm (with 10 cm of subsoil). Has anyone attempted anything similar? Would piling soil into a void and then covering with a liner create something that will compact over time and create a problem in future by sinking? I don't really have room around the side of the pond to create a wider pond.
Given that I am going to have to buy subsoil (I got rid of everything that came out of the pond when I dug it) and buy a new liner, I would really like to get it right this time. Any advice gratefully received.
