Follow these top tips to create a fantastic water feature in your backyard.
Matthew Hayden has a great pond in his permaculture backyard and his landscape designer, Nicole Moon, has these expert tips to make sure your water feature works just as well.
1. Low-lying Location
Ponds provide a wildlife habitat and look best in low lying parts of the garden where water would normally collect.
2. Utilize Rocks
Creating a sunken effect by mounding the banks around the pond and placing large rocks around it with partial shade from over hanging structures, will keep the pond cool and reduce evaporation
3. Optimal Shade
60-70% shade is ideal as it allows enough sun for aquatic plant growth and giving frogs a chance to warm themselves.
4. Surrounding Shrubs
Shade from small shrubs is preferable as larger trees tend to drop more leaves which can foul the water. A small number of leaves is not an issue but too many will result in a decline in water quality, so always scoop excess leaves out of the pond
5. Pond Depth
Ponds should be at least 50 cm deep and the edges should be gradual and sloping so lizards don’t fall in while drinking and frogs can crawl out.
6. Wetland Plants
If there are distinct wet and dry seasons where you live, allow the water to fluctuate with the seasons and plant the fringe with wetland plants that can tolerate occasional drying out such as Schoenoplectus, Juncus and Isolepis species.
7. Encourage Frogs & Lizards
Rocks and logs placed around the pond provide significant refuge for frogs and lizards
8. Native Fish
Put in small native fish to eat any mosquito larvae. If filling pond with tap water, let it sit for a week after filling to allow the chlorine to evaporate before introducing fish and frogs.
9. Changing Water
If your pond is murky, smelly or milky in colour then the water needs to be changed, you may only need to empty half of the water then top it up again. If topping up with water from the tap pour into bucket or container and stand for couple of days to evaporate off the chlorine.
10. Install a Pump
You might like to install a small circulating pump which will help oxygenate the water and keep your pond in better condition.