This left the right hand side with some bare earth and a compost bin half way up the garden. I moved the compost bin to the corner near to the shed building.I shovelled the yukky compost that was left from the previous occupants. As I did the clearing work I saw a Frog in the earth besides the fence. He was grinning at me and hopped away. I had seen in our garden a Toad at night, and a Frog during the day. Chris Packham from the BBC's Springwatch said he had used a baby bath before as a mini pond when he was younger. I sent Cat looking for one at Asda. She did not find one but suggested we use the Turtle Sandpit that was by the bins outside. Its big, round, and green.
I dug a Hole around where the decking/compost bin had been, and sunk the Sandpit into the ground. I heaped the earth up around it trying to make the mud come up to the edge. I left a triangular bit of soil between the pond and the compost bin. This will be the natural part of the garden. I planted some Ferns, Grasses, and Bergenias around the edge and filled it up with water from the outside tap.
I had a eureka moment and when we went around Newmiller Dam I borrowed three jam jars of lake water. The third one was teeming with beasties. My own water was sterile, topping up with other pond/lake water brings the first signs of life. I guess they would occur naturally over time but adding some beasties speeds up the process. Cat photographed me adding the jam jars lake water.
He has gone this morning. I hope that he is hiding from the predators and that he will return to the pond. Its like Kevin Costner in the Field Of Dreams..build it and they will come...
I had an email from Emma Lee of Awarding The Web saying I had been nominated in the 2010 Garden Blogs category. I have been ranked at number 31 on the world wide web by a panel of judges. I have displayed the star badge on the right hand side. Thanks Emma!
I love to blog about the garden, the birds, wildlife, and anything else that I enjoy. It is lovely that so many people read it, and that some readers have left comments.
Some days you wander if anyone reads your posts or is it a mad self indulgence? Talking to yourself on the internet? I have a passion for the natural world and writing. Taking photographs has also helped my artistic brain in composing and trying to shoot them well for publishing on the blog. The pictures help illustrate the prose mostly. I'm happy for the accolade.
4 comments:
The pond will develope so quickly you will wonder what it was like before you had it! keep on posting I love reading about your garden and comparing it to my little urban patch
This is a great project and as potent a gateway drug into the world of water features as there ever was! If you do find yourself wanting to branch out into something more extravagant there's a great range available here - http://www.waterfeatures2go.co.uk/Preformed-ponds-c-47.html and they're very frog-friendly.
Congratulations on the ranking. Looking for information on guppies, seeing how small some water gardens are, now you have me wanting to add one to our yard.
http://www.watergarden.net/2008/12/putting-guppies-in-your-pond.html
Guppies also eat misquito larva.
Hey Bruv! You're just great, No 1 in Brother Ranking! The pond looks great and I hope lots of frogs come by to your pond (and you take lots of pics). Love sis xx
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