BUILD A POND TO BE PROUD OF

Creating a wildlife pond in your garden is one of the best gifts you can offer wildlife, which in turn will help to look after your crops, says professional gardener and garden 

-  Ade Sellars

At a time where much of our countryside, and urban green spaces, are under continual threat, a garden pond offers a safe haven for nature. In the last 50 years, one-third of UK ponds are thought to have disappeared, which has had a huge impact on wildlife.

But before I put myself forward as Mother Nature’s saviour, I have a confession; building a wildlife pond in our garden wasn’t my idea, it was my wife Sophie’s. As a professional gardener I have several clients with ponds, so it’s down to me to maintain them. This often leaves me slipping, sliding and, on occasion, coming away with half its contents swishing around in my boots. So to say I wasn’t keen on the idea was an understatement. “I have a beautiful garden, a productive kitchen garden; why do I need a pond? Surely, it’s just taking up an area where more fruit and veg could be growing?”

With a passion for nature, Soph keenly explained the countless benefits of how so many forms of life start their journey in this little oasis. Making suggestions on what I should read, including the fabulous wildlife gardener Kate Bradbury, I jumped in at the deep end and submerged myself in this aquatic quest.

Living in the countryside, our garden is often visited by wildlife: dragonflies, bees, butterflies, hedgehogs and the odd toad. However, by adding a pond this might encourage our garden visitors to stay, encouraging ecosystems to thrive and develop. And with more wildlife, surely this would improve the health and productivity of my kitchen garden? More pollinators to pollinate my fruit and veg plants, and pesteating predators to protect my brassica beds. Imagine, faithful legions of frogs at my beck and call to stop the endless slug invasion.