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Home Beekeeping
Find out more about keeping bees in your garden for honey
grow your own
15:40, 4th Jan 2012
Storing Apples
Find out how to store apples
fruits
12:23, 28th Jul 2011
Pear and Lemon Jam
Instructions for making pear and lemon jam
preserving
14:59, 27th Jul 2011
Making Apricot Jam
Instructions for making your own apricot jam
preserving
15:44, 26th Jul 2011
Grow and Make Harissa Paste
A recipe for harissa paste with ingredients you can grow yourself
grow your own
11:57, 30th Jun 2011
Grow Your Own Chilli Peppers
Find out how to grow your own chilli peppers
grow your own
16:06, 17th Jun 2011
Dry Chilli Peppers
Find out how to dry fresh chilli peppers
preserving
16:05, 17th Jun 2011
Make Lavender Biscuits
Find out how to make delicious fragrant lavender biscuits
foraging
12:22, 16th Jun 2011
Building a Pond
Find out how to build a garden pond
Building A Pond
general | grow your own
A pond is a wonderful addition to any garden or allotment. Apart from looking nice, it will attract an enormous amount of wildlife which will help you to grow organically. If you can attract frogs, toads, and newts to your garden pond for example, then fighting slugs and insect pests will be so much easier. In addition many species of small birds will come to drink and bathe in the pond and also eat garden pests.
Building a Pond
Building your own garden pond is surprisingly simple. Dig a shallow hole (approximately 30cm deep) to the dimensions you want for the final pond in a sunny location away from overhanging trees. Dig a deep section in the centre of the pond down to 50-70cm so that the whole pond will not freeze solid in the winter, and to give aquatic wildlife a safe place to hibernate. If you want to put many plants in your pond, then it is helpful to have shelved sections on which pots can sit under the water, and also ensure that all steps have sloping edges so that wildlife can get in out and out of the pond without difficulty.
Remove any stones from hole, and add a thick layer of soft sand . This will protect the pond liner from being damaged.
Pond liners are available in butyl rubber (very flexible but expensive) or polythene. If a fabric underlay is used, the pond liner will last much longer so it is worth the extra investment. The length of liner required is:
2 x max. depth of pond + max. length of pond + 1 metre
The width of liner required is:2 x max. depth of pond + max. width of pond + 1 metre
Do not cut the liner to size immediately or you will have enormous problems. Instead line the pond leaving plenty of liner overhanging the edges of the pond. When you fill the pond, the liner will stretch to cover all the bumps and crevices in the pond. Weigh the excess liner down with heavy smooth stones and leave it for 24 hours to settle.
When trimming the pond liner to size leave 15cm of overhang and peg down the edge.
Attracting Wildlife to a Pond
Attracting wildlife to a pond is very simple. If any of your neighbours have a garden pond, then you will probably find that they will journey over all by themselves , otherwise you'll just have to drop some frog and/or toad spawn into your pond in the spring. Birds, insects, and mammals will find the pond all by themselves.
One thing to remember is that goldfish will eat frog and toad spawn, so if you want to have lots of slug and insect munching frogs and toads in your garden, do not put fish in your pond.
Article Published: 09:20, 18th Jul 2008
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