Amateur Gardening 27-Apr-2019

1 Butyl lining is quite expensive, but it is fairly easy to manipulate when shaping your pond. It can eventually perish in sunlight, so cover it well with mud and plants. PVC lining is cheaper and thinner, and more prone to tears and punctures, though it will withstand exposure to sunlight. 2 Pre-formed pond shells are easy to install and come in a range of shapes and sizes. Larger ones can be hard to transport and fit, and they need to be level and well-supported underneath or the weight of water can cause stress and even cracking.…

Your pond should be around 3ft (90cm) deep at its centre with a shallow shelf around the margins. Create places for wildlife to hide – stones in the turf surrounding it create damp and appealing habitats. Make sure hedgehogs, frogs and toads have an escape route by creating ramps and placing stones for them to climb on to. If pondweed needs thinning, leave it on the side for 24 hours before composting so insects and nymphs can return to the water safely. Always ensure young children are supervised around your pond. If necessary, cover the pond with metal netting, leaving enough room for water creatures to get in and out.…

TIMES are hard for our native wildlife, but digging a pond is one of the best ways of creating an animal haven and attracting more species to your garden, from hedgehogs and amphibians to dragonflies. No matter what its size, be it a full-scale pond, a half-barrel on the patio, or an old sink dug in and filled with plants and water, your local wildlife will thank you. We dug ours over the course of a week. It is fairly heavy manual labour (we garden on a thick chalk bed), but worth it for the benefits it will bring to local critters. Once your pond is complete, leave it to fill up with rain or use water from garden butts. Both these are better than chemically treated tap water. We also used water from…

1 Choose where you want to site the pond, remove the turf and start digging. Create a shelf for marginal plants and hollow out the central area. 2 Whether you are using a butyl or pre-formed liner you need the excavation to be level, so check regularly using a spirit level. 3 The deeper the pond, the less likely it is to freeze in winter. Ours is the recommended depth of just over 2½ft (8m). 4 To mask the lining, we then cut indentations in the turf around the pond, which we could lift and then fold back once the liner was in place. 5 Protect your liner from stones that naturally work their way through the soil by adding a base layer of old carpet, sand or newspapers. 6 You also need to protect…

Weeding tools Burgon & Ball has launched two new weeding tools in the shape of the Express Hoe and the Super Slice. The Express Hoe (right) has a pivoting blade so you can find the perfect angle for easy weeding. The double-edged hoe slides through the soil on both push and pull strokes, so speeding up weeding (£32.99). The Super Slice (right) cuts on the push and pull stroke, tackling weeds in soil and on surfaces such as aggregates (£29.99). Gardening gloves If you need a new pair of gardening gloves, Town & Country has three new ranges for you to consider. The Mastergrip range (left) uses Microfinish technology to provide up to 100% more grip than standard gloves, and is available in three colours and three sizes. ThermalMAX helps keep your hands warm…

Burgon & Ball Burgonandball.com ✆ 0114 285 2518 Dalefoot Composts Dalefootcomposts.co.uk ✆ 01931 713281 Darlac Darlac.com ✆ 01753 547790 David Austin Roses Davidaustinroses.co.uk ✆ 0800 111 4699 Evergreen (Miracle-Gro) lovethegarden.com ✆ 01276 401300 Fiskars Fiskars.co.uk ✆ 01782 204141 Gardena Gardena.com ✆ 0344 844 4558 Hotbin Composting Hotbincomposting.com ✆ 0808 168 8499 Hozelock Hozelock.com ✆ 0121 313 1122 Melcourt Industries Ltd Melcourt.co.uk ✆ 01666 502711 Natural Grower Naturalgrower.co.uk ✆ 0333 800 5450 Seedball Seedball.co.uk ✆ 020 8802 5565 Spear & Jackson Spear-andjackson.com ✆ 0114 281 4242 Town & Country Townandco.com ✆ 01869 363674 Wilkinson Sword Wilkinsonswordtools.co.uk ✆ 01869 363635…