Feck.  BBC gardening website says avoid sheltered areas; especially deciduous trees - that's my tree idea knackered then.

I've got one but I've not got a fucking clue how to keep it ticking over. When we moved in it had about five or six fish in but you could hardly ever see them as the water was manky. So I fitted a pump and filter which cleared the water, caused an infestation of duckweed and has seen cats/herons decimate the fish population. Think I've only got one left now. The frogs are doing OK though.

So if you find any good material post a link please.

Skerret wrote:

This is what we have become.  We went and got old.

genuine laughs.

Skondo wrote:

Webbins wrote:

Misleading thread title. I thought you needed help with somebody who had wronged you.

That was my interpretation too.

edited....

Ponds not too difficult, just need to set aside an hour or so every week

Used to keep one at my mum's house, was my dad's but when he passed I took it on, he'd given me a half decent apprenticeship

The deciduous thing is just because you'll have to spend time fishing the leaves out, you want sunlight on the water because that will help the algae grow and therefore oxygenate the water. Have the pump suck out of pond into a tank filled with gravel to clean the water, if you can have that water fall into the pong then that will also help oxygenate it further. We always had about a third of the pond full of algae, this not only helped with oxygen, but meant that fry had half a chance of surviving as certain parts were too thickly grown for adult fish to swim in and eat them

cockbeard wrote:

Ponds not too difficult, just need to set aside an hour or so every week Used to keep one at my mum's house, was my dad's but when he passed I took it on, he'd given me a half decent apprenticeship The deciduous thing is just because you'll have to spend time fishing the leaves out, you want sunlight on the water because that will help the algae grow and therefore oxygenate the water. Have the pump suck out of pond into a tank filled with gravel to clean the water, if you can have that water fall into the pong then that will also help oxygenate it further. We always had about a third of the pond full of algae, this not only helped with oxygen, but meant that fry had half a chance of surviving as certain parts were too thickly grown for adult fish to swim in and eat them

cheers.

As long as it's to do with leaves etc I might keep with the site I have in mind. It isn't totally sheltered by the tree. It will be next spring/summer before I start on it at any rate - but best to start planning early.

Wifey likes the idea of a water feature so the filtration could be worked in as long as it can be done tastefully.

If the area is already sunk a bit, and you don't fancy too much digging you could always only go a couple of feet down then sit the pond there and clad around it, gives you somewhere to sit as well as having less chance of yourselves or nippers falling into the pond. We did that when my nephews and nieces started arriving. Also digging is hard. Would suggest that you select pump based on the ease with which you can dismantle and maintain it. Because you will spend a fair amount of time taking it to bits and cleaning the filters. We had that feed a main tank (about 18 cubic feet) that was fed at the bottom, 3/4 full of gravel, and at the top that would flow out and down a little waterfall we made with sheets of rock. I've no idea where to source any of this kit nowadays though, I am not yet old (he keeps telling himself)

My kids are mid teens so safety isn't an issue for now. Just like the idea of having one and even better if some sort of life springs up. I have found frogs in my garden in little areas I have let the grass grow long (bases of trees for example) and found a small colony when I demolished an ancient shed.

I'm a few hundred meters from a river so I suppose they travel a bit more than I thought, but there are ponds in other gardens around me - someone a few doors down used to have ducks. Their owner said they got quite grumpy as they aged; they certainly made a racket from time to time.

Sister wanted a pond when we were kids, so our dad brought home an old free bathtub from his building travels. Blue, it is. And it's still there in his garden, only it's now filled-in with mud and covered over with grass.

Couldn't be arsed removing it, see. You can feel where it is on a wet day, as your feet sink a bit, like a poor man's NeverEnding Story.

Escape wrote:

Sister wanted a pond when we were kids, so our dad brought home an old free bathtub from his building travels. Blue, it is. And it's still there in his garden, only it's now filled-in with mud and covered over with grass. Couldn't be arsed removing it, see. You can feel where it is on a wet day, as your feet sink a bit, like a poor man's NeverEnding Story.

I recall trying to build a pond as a kid which consisted of digging a shallow ditch lined with a empty bin bag. Imagine my disappointment the next morning when I found it awash with backstroking cockroaches.

The next time I got a plastic tub and filled it with some great crested newts that I fished out of the local pond.  They escaped a day later.

g.man wrote:

I like the idea of grumpy ducks.

I was going door to door asking about sightings of our escaped rabbits when our neighbour bemoaned the fact that her ducks had lived far longer than anticipated and were grumpy sods. We used to hear them very early in the morning - no doubt squabbling. It's all gone quiet though. Lest we forget.

davyK wrote:

g.man wrote:

I like the idea of grumpy ducks.

I was going door to door asking about sightings of our escaped rabbits when our neighbour bemoaned the fact that her ducks had lived far longer than anticipated and were grumpy sods. We used to hear them very early in the morning - no doubt squabbling. It's all gone quiet though. Lest we forget.

Escape wrote:

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

I design gardens for a living so I'm gonna be your man to talk to on this.

How'd you get into that? Is the money good, or have I imagined that part? I do some cash-in-hand gardening, y'see, and not much else; t'other end of t'spectrum. I could remove a pond. I'd love to work as a labourer if the money was high and the idiot-count low. Somes dudes who worked on Wells Cathedral were paid loads, and their workrate was easy by necessity to avoid damages. That's a world away from working with Sun-readers on a Wimpey estate. Obviously, the former had to know plenty about OG methods and materials; can't just pour in concrete like Polyfilla.

I'm self taught with my own business. Generally the money is good, sometimes not so but I'm really into what I do.  I love the amalgamation of creativity and practicality of my job and it suits me perfectly.  Before I started I was very wary about Sun reading yobbo's being under my employment but there are plenty of good people in all walks of life.  I only employ four other people on a permanent basis and I've had to look hard for people I want to spend 40 hours a week with but all my chaps are decent rounded people.  It helps that I've set the business to aim at the mid and high teir of the market and the fellas are smart enough to realise how to speak to different types of client.  There's a huge misconception that people who work with their hands are thick and rough. It really really fucks me off. I'm not.  The chaps who work for me aren't. One of my guys has a PhD, another writes and performs poetry in his spare time, ones ex army and the discipline that comes with that, the final lad is an apprentice who just properly loves gardens and plants and really really cares about what we do.   As a group we're more professional and passionate about what we do than most of the White collar workers IVe come across.
Certainly general builders, labourers, tradesmen, whatever's might be a little louder or coarser or rougher around the edges but one of the big plus points of me doing this has been my change in attitude over the past ten years or so to how I view these folks.  There's certainly lots of twats about but generally I'd say when we've been on sites with other companies alongside 80% of the workforce I decent interesting people

I'd always imagined people who design gardens flounce about drinking gin and tonics and talk heavily about Japanese influences and the healing power of water while making inappropriate advances at the guys who actually do all the hard shit. I'm not sure if I'm pleased or not that this might not be true.