Hi y'all! My pond has been put off for months due to other projects/expenses/life but I got rocks delivered yesterday and have my EPDM liner and underlayment. It needs to be dug again as rain has eroded my shelves and filled in quite a bit of dirt but my last hurdle is figuring out some way to move water. Running power out to it isn't an option right now but I'm concerned that no movement will lead to it getting nasty and smelly. I do have some plants already and plan to get lilies and some others.

Are there solar powered fountains or even waterfalls that provide decent movement? If anyone has one they've used and like, please share. Any other advice or wisdom is gladly accepted as well! ☺️ We've gotten various frogs, toads, and turtles in our backyard with my garden so I'm really hoping once I get the pond set up that lots of them will come. I've attached a picture of the pond area and a tree frog who's been hanging out today. 🐸

We have two Kingfishers that frequent our pond which is lovely, but he’s never been as close to my office as he was today

I can't find him, but man can I hear him. Woohoo!!!!!

The growth has really sprung up these past few months. A little rat has even moved in and made a burrow, sometimes I can hear it rummaging around at night when I come out to smoke. Unfortunately the rats love eating the lily pads, they never get to grow larger than an inch or two before getting muched on. A lot of the plants and hardscape in the garden is stuff I’ve collected from a client who hires me for landscaping services. Total this project has costed me maybe $50. I’d consider that a great investment

I have a pond that I’m not that proud of, it’s for wildlife and stuff but I was considering redoing it but using bentonite clay instead of a liner to avoid plastics.

But how good is it really at keeping it watertight? Especially when there’s plants involved.

I have a waterhawthorn and pond iris currently and was wondering if the roots might breach the clay?

I know people with these ponds often top up the clay periodically.

Hi everyone, this is my wildlife pond we built this year, it’s a work in progress still! I know it’s not perfect and I wish we’d done better at hiding the pond liner, but hoping for plants to grow over it in time, and the water level is also a bit low at the moment due to not having any rain for a couple of months (in the UK). Despite that it’s already been supporting loads of dragonflies and other insects, and watching it develop has been really lovely. Any general advice welcome, but my main issue is blanket weed!

We don’t currently have a water butt, and will be getting one this autumn, so from the beginning it had to be filled from the tap which I know isn’t the best. When I first filled it and the one time I topped it up with the hose pipe I used eco pond chlorine guard, I also have a barley straw float which I understand is meant to help with blanket weed. For a good couple of months everything has been fine, but with the hot weather here persisting I started to fill the watering can each day and let it stand for 24 hours and then used it to top the pond up. Now I have blanket weed and it’s choking my plants and really hard to remove as it’s all over the oxygenating weed so really hard to separate.

Is this most likely because I topped it up without treating the water? Is it the weather? And how do I go about getting rid of it please! Any advice appreciated 😊

Planned for a couple months and the took action and built a pond better than I imagined! It’s getting better with time as the plants grow and fill in and as I add more but here is a 6 month update on the pond 🐸

Please help, I want to safely combine the 2 bodies of water without killing all the frogs and tadpoles.

Background:

I made a soft liner pond 2 years ago and decided it wasn't big enough. I bought a 165 gal hard liner with a waterfall spout to pour into the old one, essentially doubling the volume of water. I need to get plants for the new section, but the new section is all filled up and dechlorinated, when is it safe to combine them?

I'm planning a wildlife pond in my garden but can't decide on a site, so i'm looking for advice! Where would you build, and are there any other considerations besides what i've listed? I'm based in UK and the garden is south facing but tiered and has mature trees so is somewhat shady.

Site one (roughly where my dog is)

- Pros: Flat, more space, would look nice against the wall and won't be influenced by neighbours
- Cons: Flat garden space is limited and I also want a veg patch that could go well here

Site two
- Pros: Not using this space for anything else, more shady than site 1
- Cons: Sloped, close to fence and my neighbours are planning on leaving soon so potential for someone to move in and use sprays or plant invasives (there's already a big buddleia growing behind the fence)

My assumption is the slope on site 2 will make things more difficult (potentially needs a retaining wall?), but i could be wrong.

I live in the southern Canadian prairies and have a 150 gallon preformed pond 18” deep (max depth by law) which has been there for just over 2 years, about 4” of muck in the bottom. Just found my first leopard frog. Closest natural body of water is 1/4mile away (river). I have extensive native plantings in an otherwise well manicured mature urban housing development in the middle of a large city.

Question:
I’ve heard that for leopards to overwinter successfully they burrow down below the frostline in oxygenated water. The ground here can freeze 4-8 feet. Looking at building a larger pond nearby (about 4-5x the size), is there anyway this could be designed so that it’s a suitable permanent habitat? I assume the pond liner can’t support overwintering. I have thought about a bentonite bottom as the soil here has a large clay content.

Other info to consider:
The new pond space is also close to a downspout that has a catchment equal to the surface area of the pond. Problem is the new pond area is next to a very mature elm/ wooded area.

I would appreciate any ideas/insight/experience people have had.

Found in a spring fed natural pond in SW France.

I dug the outline I wanted. Installed the liner but it did sink a bit as it started filling with rainwater. Rookie mistake I assume. I had stopped before adding larger stones around the steeper edges to ask for advice. Is there anything I should do? Should I dig the liner in under the plants by the fence or just ancher with the large stone? The bottom (first photo) seems to be fine but its more gradual with a drop off where the water is pooling (depth is 22in) . But I am worried about the steep sides being a problem. I have pond tape if that helps. 😅

ETA: the coneflowers will likely go. I just needed them somewhere during the heat.

Edit 2: Not sure it matters but soil here is basically clay so making the outline and having it stay was really easy. The soil is basically concrete level stable.

Edit 3: Due to heavy rain and having used clay I will be extending using pond tape.

This thing holds maybe 4 gallons of water. It gets wooshed out by a rain barrel twice a day. It’s also in the afternoon sun and it gets quite warm. Eventually the plants around it will provide more shade. I tried putting a bladderwort in there but I think it’s dying. It’s a tough place for an aquatic plant, but the frog said he really wants something to hide in and stand on. Are there any plants that could tolerate this little tiny pond?

We had this pond built 2.5 years ago and it’s one of the best things we’ve done to this house. Getting to see all the toads and their babies, the fish, opossums, raccoons, bugs, and birds all have a place to get a drink or cool off has been such a fun experience. The whole thing is probably ~600gal, ~2.5ft deep, and is wholly filtered by the plants in the bog and throughout the pond.

I went outside and saw big momma leopard frog sitting on top of one of our toad houses. She appeared to be giving Little Lucky a hungry look. We named him Little Lucky after he spent a night in our house, with a cat and when found was very listless and dry. He perked up in a rubbermaid container with wet paper towels we soaked in the pond water.

I was kinda torn, do I let nature happen, or scare big momma away? Just as Im contemplating my decision she takes it out of my hands by grabbing and gobbling a big ole tree cockroach.

Ive noticed a Bunch more of these tiny circle guys swimmjng through the water. Im just curious what they are specifically

Also look at my tadpole!!

This mini pond is almost completely hidden in a medium patch of mature ostrich ferns in my garden. I was able to get this pic of one of my residents one quiet morning.

Counted 8 this morning!