But, perhaps a local pond club could give you some local knowledge about comparables in your area.
Really, I can think of so many enjoyable reasons to having a pond. I’ll be interested in reading your updates.
This pond has a black pond liner under it, but I think after a while you would not even see it as the pond life develops and natural sediment builds up.
I live in Maine if you’re wondering about the climate. Also, you said earlier that manually aerating and agitating the pond would be a lot of work, but I think I would do that anyway because in my mind, stick + water + movement = fun! :D
I’ll try to post a photo or two of the finished pond, so keep posting so that the topic doesn’t lock.
Yes, I can see the fun factors, but it might get to be too much in the summer. this pond guy suggested using a bucket or plastic pitcher to scoop up water and pouring it back from a height of 2-3 feet to several times over to manually aerate and oxygenate the water. Which also sounds kind of fun if one has the bandwidth to do it every few hours.
But, honestly, he just meant it as a stop gap measure until I could get the water fall fixed.
I have a heavy-duty plastic pool that’s about 8 feet by 6 feet by 2 feet deep. It’s sunk into the ground and one day, when there’s time (HA), I’ll finish putting stones around the edge to hide the plastic (but the native-plant garden I planted around it is doing a good job of hiding the plastic). I do not have a pump or filter. I do have lots of plants - a small water lily and two big tubs of blue flag iris in the middle, plus marsh marigold, pickerelweed and bog bean in tubs on the ledges around two edges of the pool. (The bog bean is taking over the world, which does not break my heart.)
I don’t notice any mosquito larvae, probably because three to six Green Frogs and Bullfrogs rapidly moved in. Spring Peepers bred in it last year (maybe they did this year too, but I didn’t notice). Gray Foxes drink from it (I bet the deer, squirrels, etc., do, too, but I have photo evidence of the foxes.) Several species of damselflies hang around; they probably breed in the pool, too.
All in all, I’d call it a success. Yes, there’s some algae in the height of summer, but the more of the water surface you can cover with water lily pads (or bog bean, in my case), the less algae you’ll have. Plus, algae counts as biodiversity, right?
It was lawn beforehand, so clearly an improvement in the environmental sense.
You will end up making choices between a ‘natural’ pond and one that only looks natural. Your water source - will be municipal not natural? Something like a vernal pond - dry and dormant in summer, or is yours a winter frozen climate? If, you have water plants, they grow FAST - and you will have to corral them somehow … in a pot? We have a ‘spitting frog’ to circulate the water. Summer heat needs a deeper part for pond life to retreat to cool depths. A sloping beach so everyone can get a drink, and get out again. Ours is 8 years old
My water source is from a well near the house, so not municipal. Winter is very frozen in Maine (annual average low temp ~-17º F). I understand that water plants grow quickly, and would accept a marsh if I need to. I know about the deeper part, and love the idea. Thanks for all that!
About clay, I have been told that you need a layer at least 50 cm thick, else it tends to crack and lose water. So that’s some extra work and material…
I have large dragonflies laying eggs every year, their larvae eat tadpoles and frogs eggs, but I still have mosquitoes…
Adult amphibians come and go, and a lot of birds and mammals come to drink and bath when the weather is hot and dry.
Thank you! By “temporary pond”, do you mean vernal pool/seasonal wetland/one-of-those-snowmelt-ditches-that-evaporate-in-the-summer’s-heat-and-salamanders-love?
if one has the bandwidth to do it every few hours.