Creating a garden fish pond: Karin’s story

Creating a garden fish pond: Karin’s story

Creating a garden fish pond has its challenges. The vision was for a pond surrounded by plants in a large shrubby garden.

In July 2023, the project commenced. It began with digging a hole for the fish pond. Rain filled up the hole before the plastic liner could cover the ground. When the rain stopped and the ground was almost dry, the pond was lined with plastic.

In August, during some delightfully sunny days, time was spent meticulously positioning rocks and plants around the pond. Fish were added to the pond.

But a slow leak in the plastic liner forced the dismantling of the pond. The fish were placed into the frog pond, and the aquatic plants went into the children’s pool. The pond was emptied, the plastic was removed, and then the rains came again and filled up the pond.

While waiting for the area to thoroughly dry, other garden tasks were attended to, such as erecting a compost bay.

When the area dried out under a few days of sunshine, a new, thicker plastic liner was put down, with success.

In the first two weeks of September, the fish pond was finished and the fish returned to their new home. A variety of grasses and flowers were planted and now the waiting begins again – for everything to grow.