Some questions about the new pond

 

The rain has come at just the right time

Matthew (see comments) has asked a few questions about the new pond:

Does the liner just extend under the turves?

Yes

Is that a big enough catchment?

I hope so! In the first pond, the liner extends just to the edge of the pond, and there is very little runoff from the surroundings (mostly the grass around it slopes slightly away from the pond, and though it is a bit higher at the back I think the area that could provide water is very small).

I’ve not topped the first pond up at all since I made it and, although I wanted it to dry out a bit, it’s shown no sign of doing so! Mind you, it has been pretty consistently wet since I made it in 2007.

Will there be much surface runoff into your pond?

I think very little – but I’m not too worried because (a) I don’t mind if it goes down – I’m interested to see what happens if we have natural drawdown in a garden pond (b) I can alsways add water from the rainwater butt or even route it directly from the roof to the pond.

Will the nutrients in the turves not leach into the water? 

The highest point of the liner is just in front of the turves so they will mostly be outside the pond in fact – so water will flow from the pond out through the turves when the pond overflows – so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. A bit of soil has fallen in while I was fiddling about with the edges, but a little bit won’t do any harm.