Every garden needs a pond. Water in the garden provides interest and a habitat for beneficial insects and animals; frogs love to eat slugs!
Think of a pond and you may see a big expanse of water with waterlilies and perhaps space for a small boat. If that is your vision, think again. A pond that sustains wildlife can be as small as a washing up bowl, and surely every garden can make room for a washing up bowl?
How to make a washing up bowl pond
To make a small wildlife pond, washing up bowl sized, you want to put the bowl close to the wildlife part of your garden. Such a small size is vulnerable to evaporation, so out of full sun is ideal. While your pond is getting established, keep an eye on the water levels and top up regularly, ideally from rainwater butts, or if from the tap try to let the water stand for a few hours to allow the chemicals used to purify it evaporate.
A washing up bowl has steep smooth sides, so it is important to provide stones both in the pond and outside to create a way in and out, so animals can drink without risk of drowning. A washing up bowl can look ugly so consider whether you can dig a hole to partly or completely submerge the washing up bowl in your soil, and then provide stones and humps of soil to disguise the edges and enable animals to get to the water.
Even though a washing up bowl is small it is important to get it level, you want the water level with the top, not on a slant.
Even such a small pond can have some plants in it. Our suggestions include
- Water-crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis) and hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum), pondweed or waterweed to oxygenate the water
- Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) or Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) as floating plants
- Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus), Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) at the edges and surrounding the pond
Got more space or want a larger pond?
Contact Chopwell to help you prepare the area, dig the pond , then plant and landscape the surroundings. Our friendly professional team are here to help you create the garden of your dreams
