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Step 5. Laying the liner
Carefully remove stones from the bottom
and sides of the hole that may puncture
your liner. Then cushion it further with sand
and a layer of underlay. You can also
put another layer of underlay over the
top of the liner, to further protect it, and
provide a better substrate for aquatic
plants and mosses.
Step 6. Add the water
If you are patient you can wait for the pond
to fill with rainwater, or you can collect
rainwater in your water butts and use this.
In many parts of Britain it is better not to
use tap water, which is high in dissolved
nutrients, and is too ‘rich’ for your pond.
Once there is water in the pond you can
trim back any excess liner, and cover
the edges using the turves you removed
earlier. However you need to ensure the
topsoil can’t get washed back into the
pond, so place them carefully, not sloping
into the water. The grasses will soon grow
down to the water covering the edges.
Step 7. Encouraging Wildlife
If you want to make the pond more natural
looking, and give your plants somewhere
to root, add children’s play sand to your
pond. This is chemically inert so there are
no nutrient pollution problems. Another
option is gravel – as long as it is washed
thoroughly first. Don’t add soil or topsoil –
and try not to get mud in your pond, as if
you start with a pond that looks like a mud
bath, it is likely to remain polluted.
And the wildlife? Well that can start to arrive
on day one with water beetles flying in.
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