Thursday 20 March 2014

The Wildlife Pond Wednesday 19th March 2014

I headed back down to the allotment last night to do a bit more work on the wildlife pond. I think after this evenings session I might just leave nature to do its work and grow up and around the pond. Anyway here's where we got to...


I have been gathering any rocks stones etc that I have
come across while I was removing the old pond so
the first job was to start putting the good ones at one
side of the pond to build a rockery area for frogs and toads
to find shelter


The banks of a wildlife pond should be grassy in places
and the grass is able to grow and overhang. The longer
stems will eventually hang over the pond if I just leave
them to grow. The frogs love the grassy banks as they
provide good cover and can also attract dragon fly larvae


With the pond liner that was left over I dug
back into the grass bank and lifted the grass
and soil up to create an envelope kind of thing
and then tucked the pond liner back underneath 
the soil and grass. Ill just leave the sides of the
grass to grow over the edge into the water


I also started to add some water to the pond to fill
it up. Ideally rainwater is best which has been collected
in water butts - i had a few buckets from the waterbath 
in the allotment and then started topping it up with
rain water to neutralise the water

If you know of a well established wildlife pond near where there is toads, frogs etc you can fill up two or three washed out water bottles with this pond water. Empty them into your pond in the middle and this will bring a secret ingredient to kick start the first signs of life in your wildlife pond. If the pond is historic and has been established for a long time it should have the micro organisms in the water to get your pond living and encourage pond visitors



And so there we are... the wildlife pond is nearly ready
to let wildlife and the warming spring temperatures bring 
the vegetation around it to life....


To finish off I'm going to throw a couple of shovels of soil to the bottom of the pond just to make it nice and soggy for any wildlife and also a heap or two to plant some reeds. Try and make sure the soil you throw in is free of chemical fertilizers or weed killers. Chemical pollutants can stay active in the soil for many years.

A good balance of plants for the wildlife pond to start off with could be a water Lilly, a couple of aerating water-weeds and some reeds or rushes kind of thing... i'll be adding them next to try and attract wildlife to the wildlife pond..

I'll be back on soon to show you how the wildlife pond is developing...


Tuesday 18 March 2014

A visitor to the Wildlife Pond. Saturday 15th March 2014

I went to check on the pond-liner this morning to make sure it hadn't blown away and to put some further stones down as I wouldn't be back to work on it till next week and spotted these footprints left by something that had walked across the pond with muddy feet. Ill have to check what they could be.. Or maybe you know...



Wonder who left these...?

Work on the Wildlife Pond continues. Friday 14th March 2014

Well after a bit of deciding I went for the pond liner option for the wildlife pond and not the plastic moulded option. It was a cheaper option and meant I could dig the pond out by hand and decide where to put things etc... I went for a pond of about 2m x 2m. You should also try and make sure the deepest part of the pond is more than 90cm so that if the pond freezes in winter there is still unfrozen space underneath for the things that could be living in there... The afternoon went a little bit like this...


I started to dig out the different levels for the pond
so it creates a kind of beach effect for wildlife to get
in and out of the pond



Once I was happy with the size and layers I removed 
any hard or sharp stones and roots etc and smoothed 
the surface out of the pond bottom



I then put some sand down in the base of the pond 
to smooth it out even more.



I also placed some old newspapers down on top
of the sand for extra protection and foundation 



I then started to spread out the pond liner which cost
me about £16 from the garden centre in the aquatics 
department for a 2mx2m sheet. I started to push it into
place and held the edges down with some heavy stones


Its a good idea to just leave the excess pond liner for
now until the pond is filled with water as you will need
the excess to use in creating the edges to the pond.

And that's about as far as I got today... ill be back after the weekend no doubt to continue to finish this off so keep checking back to see the progress...


Monday 10 March 2014

So we're gonna build a Wildlife Pond this week... Monday 10th March 2014

Yes... the old pond at the allotment was basically a water tank cut in half length ways with a few bits and pieces of junk surrounding it and full of more mud than water... While I'm all for natural spaces I'm just going to upgrade the area and try to get more wildlife to come to the allotment with an even better wildlife pond.

Environmentally unfriendly gardening and the like has seen a boost in self designed or expensive water features with a complete dis-regard for how our local wildlife friends like the frog, the toad, the newt, the dragonfly, the pond skater and the water boatmen all interact with these water spaces. We pay architects a fortune to design magnificent houses and buildings but if we spent just a little time making sure our ponds and water spaces in gardens and allotments were "grand" for the wild inhabitants we'd make better spaces and help address the worlds disappearing amphibian population along with wildlife ponds and bog areas.

This week were going to try and put a wildlife pond in the allotment ourselves and learn as we go to create a good thriving wildlife space.

As we haven't got much space I've already sourced a cheap pond from the garden centre (£20) with a layered set of levels in it (like a beach effect, to attract different species that thrive at different levels of water)

Something like this


You could use pond liner to create the same effect if you like but I've decided to save a bit time and this fits into the space perfectly for me... a decent small size pond would be about 2.5 x 1.5 metres...

and the space for the pond is here...


I'll be buying the pond this week and putting it in so keep checking the blog for more news on the pond development as we go...


   

Saturday 8 March 2014

A quiet Saturday morning 8th March 2014

This mornings been the first real return to the allotment since the winter. The nights are getting lighter now and slightly warmer. I'd imagine there's still a bit frost on an evening so were not going to put things in the ground just yet...

To be honest the next couple of weeks will be where we get all those jobs done while we can and before it gets even busier with the soil sorting and planting...

Started today...

Pruned the Apple Trees back and gathered
up the cuttings for a bonfire


Pulled out all the weeds and rubbish from 
the front beds and where the old pond used 
to be


This was where the old pond used to be.
It was just a water drum cut in two and
was overgrown and the water was filthy


A view looking down the allotment


Ive started raking all of the stones, twigs 
other bits that blow onto the beds before
I turn the soil next week


I think the grass could do with a cut and
probably a re-seed in patches soon


Ive repaired the climbing frames that were
damaged in the high winds at the end of Feb


Ive also pruned the blackcurrant bushes 
back even further so we have a smaller
manageable bush to deal with and to let
some sunlight into the new pond.


A few things still to do...

  • Put in a new pond and use the old rocks to surround it that we have kept
  • Build a cold-frame (its still cold on an evening for a bit yet and for delicate plants etc)
  • Buy some timber as I fancy a few raised beds in the back of the allotment this year

Welcome to Muddy Boots Allotment Blog

Welcome to our little on-line journal, scrapbook, diary... call it what you will about our allotment, where you can keep up to date with all the things we grow, jobs we do and time we spend down at our allotment.

This blog isn't a Gardeners World top tips and How to place, more a place for two amateur gardeners to share our seasons with other green fingered folk and the time we spend down on our plot digging, weeding, growing and relaxing.

We took on our allotment about a year ago March 2013 after waiting for a while on the usual long waiting list to get a chance to have a go at growing your own! The plot was in a bit of a mess when we started (we'll post some pictures up to show you) and we spent a large chunk of last year tidying the place up and halfway through the season threw in some bits and pieces, fruit, flowers and vegetables and waited to see what grew well and what didn't do so well.

We had a really fun 1st year sorting the place out, building a summerhouse, buying some tools and generally just getting our hands dirty and our boots muddy and learning as we went along.

This year we decided to write a blog about the allotment to capture the beautiful changes a space like this goes through during spring, summer autumn and winter and to create a way to look back on our efforts. We hope you keep dropping by...