Wildlife pond

That size doesn't seem too big in the space available, its a while since I measured it though and that might be the size of the liner, which has to be a good bit bigger than the hole. Would the size of it make any difference to the chance of it not staying clear though?

There will not be fish, I would like to see frogs and dragonflies etc but otherwise I'm hoping it will attract wildlife, we are about a kilometre to any water, even drainage ditches, so it would be interesting to see what might take up residence.

Yes, the site is a good distance from the house, we already have mozzies - daughter got bitten yesterday!

Thanks for all the helpful comments, I am looking forward to doing it, this year's project.

Er, no, there was a swimming pool (in manky condition) which has now been replaced by a sunken garden! Haven't missed the pool at all.

So the Great Pond Project started last week. Last year's start never happened due to weather and a bad back, all is good now though and after a week of dry weather I decided to make a start. I was very fortunate to get a man with a digger (relative of a friend in a small community, lot to be said for it even if I am a blow-in 😁) to come on Saturday, the last dry day of the 'summer'. Huge back-hoe digger that was delicately moved between young trees and shrubs with no damage to them or the grass.

I had a plan, which was regarded with some amusement, and cribs about it being in metric, so I changed it, it was actually helpful in spite of the muttering, and all went well. The smaller bog garden shape was dug out and the soil dumped on the grass, the liner (cheapish one from a garden centre) and sub-liner put in place and the soil replaced. The main area was then dug out with allowance made for the slope in the ground and shelves and a deep section. It doesn't look much in the picture but its exactly what I needed and tidying can be done with a shovel over the summer. Its 4m x 6m to accommodate the size of a liner - approx 6.2 x 8.

A mini-digger might have been able to do more precise digging, but it would have taken a couple of days and would not really have had the reach, whereas the big digger just stood in one spot and did it all, in two hours. Staggering how much soil comes out of a hole in the ground.

I thought I would have loads of spoil in big heaps but he spread it behind the hole (buried some of the sub soil) and once it has been tidied up I will be able to put grass seed on it. There was way more top soil than I anticipated so it should grow grass no problem. I have kept a pile of subsoil to put into the pond, but it is more stones than soil so it will have to be sifted to get subsoil to put on the shelves. I may have made a problem for myself there. I could level it a bit and transfer some of the top soil if its not working to produce subsoil.

The main problem with the hole is that the bottom of the deep bit is just shale/stones, raking it is not going to solve that, and the sides are stoney too. Sand will probably sort the bottom, once I have levelled out the stones but I think I will have to use something like sheets of cardboard against the sides, under the sub-liner. Carpet would be great but I don't have any, maybe something will turn up before I get to that stage.

Anyway I want to finish tidying the bog garden area, then levelling the spoil before it all gets sodden/turns into a solid lump. It will all take a good while as I am not as young as I was, but no problem, I am looking forward to doing it. Ultimately I am getting lining from Lining Services in Waterford, its about the best there is, very expensive - I recon it will cost me about 1500, but all the rest of the job is a waste of time if I just use cheap liner.

Looks like a mess, but is a better shape than the pic suggests. I have to get the level set up again on it. Its a metre deep at the centre.

Is the spearmint a water plant?