Craig's Pond

Having posted a few comments on my pond, I thought it was time to start a diary. Here's a recap of the story so far...

Autumn 2006 I dug the pond using flexible liner and filled with water.
Got some lovely grey stone from the local garden centre and smooth pebbles around the edge. The pond is roughly 8' x 4' and 3' deep, with three levels for planting.

Planted three initial plants. Brandy Bottle Lily, Parrots Feather and Norfolk Reed

Having found it was too cold to add fish, I left the pond empty for the winter. During the freak winds of the winter, my neighbours fence was ripped out of the ground and landed in the pond. Getting it back in the ground, with a solid fence spike, I drained the pond to check for damage. Thankfully it was intact, but a number of the rocks had been pushed in,the ground at the edge of the pond had been raked up, making a mess and my lily that had grown well had it's leaves pulled off. Cleaning out and refilling the pond, I replanted the lily and left the pond to rest.

In February 07 I started to look at filters and pumps. Invested in a Hozelock Cascade and insatalled as a fountain, planning to add a waterfall feature later.

At the end of March, the weather got warmer and I added some fish - 3 small goldfish and two Yellow Comets. I also added some more plants - Slender Club Rush, Corkscrew Rush and Barred Horsetail.

In the beginning of April, a good day of sun brought out the algae. I rushed out and bought a filter - Laguna Powerjet Pump with a Hozelock Ecopower filter. Spent best part of Easter Weekend setting it up with a preformed waterfall from Blagdon Water Gardens. Only problem is I only have two external RCD sockets so now need to get some kind of switch box to connect all three items.

Spent the whole of Easter Monday fitting a Blagdon switchbox and finally got it sorted so now have pump, filter and fountain running through it. The neighbours fence should be fixed soon, so once that's done, I'll bury the cabling and get the place tidied up.

Thanks to Ferox, I've added a floss wool filter basket to clear out the algae, using the water to set up a Daphnia Culture.

Also got some more rocks for around the pond and added some barley corn.

Sadly one of the Goldies died on Wednesday but the others are thriving and with the water getting clearer every day, I can keep an eye on them ;-)

Added four "assorted pond fish" courtesy of Maidenhead Aquatics. Not sure what they are - three are yellow like comets and one is dark like a shubunkin.

Had a great BBQ beside the pond on Saturday night. Very Relaxing!

Just a brief update...Added 5 Shubunkins to the pond around May and a number of other plants - A spiral plant, and a floating plant.

The Norfolk Reeds have grown really tall and have been replanted into larger pots as they kept being blown over.

The Brandy Bottle Lily recovered well after the winter battering - three leaves are currently on the surface (though one is being slowly eaten - amazing how they only eat one leaf at a time!) and another three are slowly growing.

Two baby Shubbies have appeared and seem to be doing well.

On the side I now have a full insect culture with Daphnia, red worms and assorted creepy crawlies, to help with the feeding .