We made a pond.Twice . We hired a man with a JCB. He was very enthusiastic. We marked out the site, discussed the size and shape, waved our arms around windmill fashion – and then made a big mistake – we went away for a few days. When we returned, we found a huge straight-sided hole in the ground and massive rockery.
When we recovered from that financial and confidence sapping disaster -we hired another man with a JCB. This time we stayed put. My other half literally guided the bucket into position. I watched- ready to call an ambulance.
We bought a pond liner when we should have spent the money on carpets. We lived for some time with concrete floors.
Cardamine pratensis or Lady’s Smock grows happily in the boggy margins.
S oxslips grow along the sloping banks. such a delicate flower.
I’m replanting the iris and camassias around the edges and trying to control the stinging nettles and brambles. I don’t want to eradicate them completely- just keep on top of them. I garden with a light touch. I love the butterflies that hatch their eggs on the nettles. So gardening for me is a compromise.
Have you ever made a pond? What lessons did you learn along the way? I hope you have enjoyed these photos of my garden. It’s a peaceful place where humans have to share with the wildlife.
Bramble Garden 
No experience in making ponds although I love them. I have written about customizing and getting the E Mail Followers on the side. I think you could get it on either side, I don’t know exactly your format. I had written to ask the Happiness Engineers from WordPress site itself. They are very helpful. I also set up myself, slowly learning and after more than 5 and a half years still learning new things. Its very good to get the Followers on Top at the sides. I am sure you can find out. Best of Luck with all that 🙂 ❤ 🙂
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Thank you
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Just reading though your archives to see if you have a picture of your whole garden. Anyway this post reminded me of our pond disaster. Nothing like your scale, though. We had a lovely new patio and wanted a shallow reflecting pool at one side, with a fountain. We just wanted to see and hear the water as we were sitting. We did the same as you, went away from the job. When we came back the shallow water feature was a hole four feet deep and a real liability. We had to make a cover to put on it at night as I was terrified we would wake up and find a body in it. We eventually filled it in before the grandchildren came to stay. You can read the original post here
https://myaberdeengarden.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/a-little-bit-of-japan-and-widnes/
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Oh dear! Not just us then. We were far too trusting in those days. Hang on a minute….we haven’t changed, my husband says 🙂 it was the straight sides we couldn’t understand. So dangerous, like you say, and nowhere for plants to grow in the shallow margins we had asked for. Sigh! Thanks for your comments, and for following my blog. All the best. Karen
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That sounds like an awful (and expensive) experience, but your pond looks wonderful. What did the first man say when you expressed your horror at what he’d done?
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OH. My first ever comment! Well, he just said he loved making ponds. The bigger the better. It was his favourite job. We were far too polite to say anything more to him. I am sure we even said thank you :)) Those were the days when we trusted everything everyone said to us. To be honest. We are still like that.
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