I decided at one point what a great idea it was to make my old 2000 gallon sunken pond bigger and removed everything and started digging. A year later and i have a baby and no motivation to complete and im looking for some ideas. The area is reached by walking down a few steps then has a bog garden dirctly behind. This hole is a 1/3rd the way down my garden and is followed by a 30 foot lawn then a vegi patch and then another 30foot lawn.
Does anyone have any great ideas ion what i could do with this hole? at the moment i have a few
1- finnish pond - But this will cost me upwards of £4000 to do properly
2- a Sunken Patio - But not ideal with small children
3- Fill it in and have more turf - I hate mowing the lawn as i keep braking lawn mowers
4- fill it in and have a massive flower/shrubery typ bed in the middle of teh garden.
What does everyone think? My wife is not pleased with the mess at present
2000gallon sunken pond bigger and removed everything and started digging. Ayear later and i have a baby and no motivation to complete and imlooking for some ideas. The area is reached by walking down a few stepsthen has a bog garden dirctly behind. This hole is a 1/3rd the way downmy garden and is followed by a 30 foot lawn then a vegi patch and thenanother 30foot lawn.
atthe moment i have a few
keepbraking lawn mowers
atpresent-- gwildor
Get one or two large, deep rubbermaid cattle troughs and bury them with one foot or so sticking up, surround with decorative stones and plants that like to creep into the water, then start growing waterlilies. Total cost will probably be less than £200 including the first lily bulbs.
Have a mostly-submerged rock from which a cat or hedgehog or skunk or squirrel can get back out if something falls in. If you have kingfishers or herons you can't add fish unless you have a cross-hatching of wire over the top, which you might want anyway due to having a toddler.
If they're as easy to find in Britain as they are here, get a dozen "toughie" or fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas, a small temperate freshwater fish sometimes sold in pond stores, or in bait shops, or even in tropical fish shop though in the latter as "feeders"). They're small and invisible to predators, also to people so not very visible unless you get the white ones called "rosies" and then the predators will see 'em too. They insure a lack of mosquitos, though also a lack of dragonflies and cool stuff. The regular brown-back toughies sometimes cost about a dime each but the rosies are sold as exotics and might cost as much as a goldfish.
If toughies unavailable in Britain (and perhaps there's some fear they could become invasive if they escaped to wild ponds), you're probably stuck with goldfish, stick to comets which are swift enough to mabye not be eaten by birds despite sticking out like sore thumbs on a dinner tray. Gotta have something like that though or mosquitos will come, unless you can get some dragonfly larvae cycling through the tubs, they're as good as toughies plus they add a lot to a garden when they turn into adults.
Since you now have a baby, who will soon be a toddler, removing the pond is a *good thing*. I removed my two ponds after the birth of grandson #1 (I decked over them). Some will counter that you can fence and screen and be vigilant.......don't do it.....remove the danger. Kids love water and will get to it.
Having been in similar straits with my wife over incomplete projects, i.e mess, the only advice I have is *clean the mess quickly*.....two months ago is best! ;-)
Whatever you come up with, keep the safety of your child foremost in your mind. Now that I think about it, can you fill and turn this into a play area of some sort for the young one?
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