A preformed fibreglass pond: how can you make a decent wildlife pond from this?
Here’s a classic pre-formed pond liner.
It’s designed for fish-keeping, and for standing plants in pots on the shelves. It’s not the ideal shape for wildlife.
So how can we make a good wildlife pond out of this?
Simple: do the most important thing you can for any pond – fill it with clean water.
Be obsessive about clean water: it’s very easy to get polllutants into water and very much harder (or impossible) to get them out again.
So no soil, no tapwater, no fertilisers, no compost, no plant food, no fish food, no turves. Clean, washed, childrens sandpit sand should be OK, but absolutely nothing that will add unnaturally high concentrations of nutrients.
Leaves are fine – let them fall in.
June 2, 2010 at 9:29 pm |
If you think the one in the picture looks bad….
Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers, and I did get 2 identical pre-formed ponds for free from different sources.
After eventually getting round to digging the equivalent of 2 graves, I’ve finally sunk them.
I’n a latecomer to the blog, and it looks like I’ve done everything wrong so far…
…….but I’m still optimistic and I do have some genuine wildlife. I have a few ideas now to try & improve the situation. I’ll try to get back & let you know !
June 2, 2010 at 11:03 pm |
Dear Tony
oh – I do feel a bit of a kill joy.
But don’t worry about the shape too much. The really important thing is to really go for the clean water because, to be honest, any shape or size or depth of hole in the ground will be good for wildlife of you’ve got unpolluted water.
Do get in touch if you need any more advice (yes there is more where this depressing gloom-mongering comes from!
Best wishes
Jeremy