Creating the Pond Timeline
Having created a successful but very small pond in our previous garden in Warwick we aimed to put a
larger pond in the Morwell garden. The slope of the garden and the exceptionally stony soil are
challenging in themselves and it was plain that manually digging a deep enough hole wouldn’t be a
quick job. However two trees planted close together and not in the best of health suggested a
solution, cut down the trees and have the stumps removed creating two holes for the possibility of
connected ponds.
2016
2017
In January 2017 we had the very sick cypress cut down, and later in the
year when the opportunity arose and there was a man with a digger on
site, we got the first stump pulled out. I soon learned from this that
stump roots aren’t easy to cut up with a chainsaw - there are so many
small stones trapped you can’t avoid blunting the saw in no time.
September 2017 and
we’d cut the other
cypress down to a
stump ourselves. In
the intervening
months since the first
stump was removed of
course the hole
created had filled with
weeds and wild
strawberries. We
considered the idea of
cutting the stump into
some kind of useable
seat and having just
one pond, but it really
isn’t that easy to
shape so many random
upright pieces.
2018
Practically I couldn’t reduce the stump to less than as seen on the left in July 2018, any further cutting
would need a much bigger chainsaw. As well as filling up with weeds the first pond hole slowly filled up with
soil as we cleared the weeds. The teazel was magnificent, but we never got another despite leaving it to
seed itself. 7th September Mike Cann and his remarkable CAT digger were passing and for a very modest fee
he agreed to uproot the second cypress stump, took just a couple of minutes. The tracks from the CAT
disappeared in weeks.
15th October, the second stump has been slowly sliced into pieces and the wood taken away and stored for
burning. No further progress was made for almost two years.
2020
The weeds, brambles, nettles and wild strawberries had completely taken over when work restarted on 8 May.
Voles had built runs and holes all over the place but soon moved out when activity started. The first version was
nowhere near deep enough so more digging and stone removal was necessary to create a suitably deep shape for
the upper pond, and the bank built up to counteract the slope.
By 28 May the upper pond was dug out with a flat edge part of the way around for placing pond marginal plants,
then right by 24 June the lower pond digging is finished and all was ready for the liner to be installed.
7 July and the butyl liners arrived. A great bonus was having the space to lay a liner out on the grass to cut the
underlay to size. What we didn’t think of… a sunny day and black butyl liner gets very hot. The grass underneath
was rather scorched! The lower pond was first to be filled, Lesley carefully adjusting the folds in the liner as the
weight of the water pressed it down.
Next day the upper pond received the same treatment (left). Then the job of landscaping and hiding the butyl
started in earnest, with the big stones being positioned first. The connecting waterfall between the ponds,
middle right, had several incarnations before we felt we had it right. A solar-powered pump was installed in the
lower pond to keep the flow going on bright days.
Local stone was
sourced from the
nearby quarry and
some slabs laid as
edging, here still
being arranged for
the upper pond edge.
Four concrete circles
make footsteps in the
space between the
ponds and the
platform seat has a
temporary position
which turned out to
be just right. This was
11 August and already
a toad had been
spotted in the water.
2 October. The
construction work is
finished and the basic
landscaping done. The
pair of sack pouches
on the edge of the
lower pond lasted a
very short time as the
birds pulled at the
sacking to get nesting
material. The big
white stone is far too
heavy to move so has
stayed where it was
when the trees were
here.
The gravel has done a
good job of keeping
weeds down, and
brambles are no
problem now. The wild
strawberries keep
creeping towards the
water and need some
discouragement
occasionally.