How to make a raised pond and rockery

I have always wanted a wildlife water feature in my back garden. I eventually got around to making one. It is slightly larger than I expected but none the less a welcome addition to the house.

This instructable shows how I got round to making it. This mainly consists of a series of diagrams combined with a few actual photos.

I hope you may find this useful.

Share & Enjoy.

Zippy.

Step 1: Prepare the ground

Pick your area for the pond and clear it of rocks and plants.

Comments

[toots_javellana]

Very nice! A running water system will allow you the opportunity to add filtration of some kind. Eventually, you will see some algal growth, perhaps even a stubborn bloom, and that can be discouraging. Adding larger water plants will also help keep algal blooms in check.

I live in a tropical area and was myself considering a salt/brackish water pond, with mangroves and tidal motion devices. Your instructable has inspired me to go on and get it done. Thanks.

[grundisimo]

Do you have any fish?

[bunglesmate]

I have not put coi or goldfish in there as they would eat their way thorugh the frogs I hope to attact. I did put some native sticklebacks in to keep the mosquitos down. They work very well.

[emjay]

I know this is a delayed comment, but I've just recently been researching this. What type of fish would be ideal to keep a frog population lower? My last pond (my green/damaged pool) attracted hundreds of frogs. At my new house, we don't have any water/pools currently but we still have a large number of frogs in the area. What can I do over the winter to prevent a frog invasion when the weather warms up more? (Central Florida)

[grundisimo]

I live near a lake and halve gathered information about the population of fish. Trout i have heard eat frogs so do black-tailed bass.

[bunglesmate]

Hi there Emjay, No problem. I was advised not to keep goldfish as they chomp their way through tadpoles. Also I don't think frogs like moving water to spawn in so if you could get some movement in the water by putting in a pump of some description this might help lower the population if it doesn't remove them all together. If the pump could be used to create a raised stream/waterfall all the better. Share & Enjoy. Zippy.

[grundisimo]

FROGS ARE AWESOME SO IS BYU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But anyway if you could figure out how to keep like a cat or snake or something like that(that eats frogs) That would work also. :) I AM STILL FOR BYU THOUGH!!!!!!BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU

[jello666]

WTF is byu 

[grundisimo]

a college in utah.

[ElvenChild]

as well as Idaho and Hawaii

[grundisimo]

Oh that is supposed to be if you could figure out how to keep a snake or cat or something like that(that eats frogs)in your yard that would keep the frog population down.

[emjay]

Yeah, not sure the wife and little kids would be that thrilled to replace frogs with snakes. But I think we'd need a small army of cats to be effective. I'd rather just repel them than kill them.

[grundisimo]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Anyway though I saw an add for a sprinkler thing that you hook up to your pond pump(if you have one) and if it sees any sort of motion it turns on and scares things away. But if that doesn't work you could try putting a wall up. But I need more information about your pond(size of frogs etc.) BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU!!!

[bedeboop]

Beautiful! I think maybe even I could do this in my yard! I think.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Very nice! Could you do an ible about your bog? I am interested in setting up one for my pitcher plants.

[bunglesmate]

I am working on this and will post soon (hopefully)

[killerjackalope]

Hehe to me bog means toilet...

[grundisimo]

My Dog had puppies.

[JakeTobak]

Amazing, a little bit above my skill level though :P

[bunglesmate]

To be brutally honest it didn't take a great lot of skill to make it. It was mainly the heavy rocks and cement that took the time. Even the interior wall doesn't have to be perfect just reasonably upright. You could replace the blocks and rocks with wood sleepers on either side of the liner etc. Z.

[bunglesmate]

Well thanks a lot for the positive comments. I will try and get one done for other parts of my garden as well. I think this could get quite addictive.

[Chefboy6382]

This is awesome, Well done!!!!!!