Oasis among the veggies

I’d long promised to help my friend Jenny put in a little pond at her allotment.

I had been delighted that she felt this was the right thing to do there – yes, an allotment is a place to grow your veggies, but that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate wildlife-friendly features.

Indeed, any food production doesn’t need to occur in a sterile desert, and there is every chance that encouraging wildlife will help Jenny create a better natural balance in and around her crops, to the benefit of all.

Covid rather got in the way of the pond’s creation, but this January we at last found a suitable morning to do it.

Jenny has created a little ‘dead hedge’ about two foot high where woody prunings are placed as a wonderful little minihabitat, and she had decided to place the pond in front of it, where it will get some shade rather than being open and baked day-long in summer.

The dead-hedge will also provide an instant retreat for some of the creatures that might come to use the pond, hopefully even an amphibian or two.

The space available for the pond was just about four foot by three, to include all the margins as well, so there was nothing sophisticated about the design that I had sketched on a scrap of paper: a hole in the ground about 45cm deep in the middle, with shelves around the outside and a gently sloping beach at one end where birds and Hedgehogs can safely drink and bathe, and get out if they need to!

We first marked out the shape with to get a sense of layout of both the outer edge and of the inner deep areas.

It doesn't take long to dig out the hole and begin to shape the shelves. I always say dig the shape you want, and then go a bit bigger and a bit deeper - the underlay, liner, gravel and then plants will only make the final pond seem smaller otherwise.

Once you're happy with the hole, add something to protect the rubber liner from stones. With the risk of flints, we went for old carpet.

Then in goes the liner, pinned down on all sides so that it doesn't get dragged in as the water is added.

It only took 15 mins or so to fill from a water source on the allotment, and allowed us to add smooth pebbles and washed gravel as it did so.

Once full, the liner can be cut to shape.

And here it is at the end of the morning's work, with the shallow beach at this end, a few young pond plants added in aquatic baskets (you'll need to strain to see them!) and with just a little bit more gravel and flints to be added to cover the edges of the liner.

Tune in next week to see how it now looks, four months on!