We built a wildlife pond

And you should, too.

Γειά σου from Greece. Or rather, hello from my desk a few days before I go on holiday. But thanks to the magic of scheduled posting, I’ll be in Greece – the Pelion Peninsula – by the time you read this. Providing our ancient Rav4 has made it here without anything (too important) falling off…

So, a relatively quick post from me this week. I’ve got clothes to iron (haha, as if) and a changeable weather forecast to obsess over.

I realised I never followed up on our pond project.

Which is a shame, because it’s been the best thing in our garden all summer. A summer of scorching heat, dry, dusty soil, struggling veg, and flower beds that went over back in July. The pond has been the one place we gravitate to on a daily basis. It’s better than any TV programme or book.

Want to go back to the start of the project and read about our history of taking on hilariously oversized garden projects? Check out this post:

Definitely not another insane garden project

Here’s how the pond looks now.

I’m obsessed with its nooks and crannies. The reflections.

It’s like a secret world under there. The kind I would have written endless stories about as a child.

Oh, the nooks and crannies and reflections.

The wildlife flocked here within days. We now have frogs, dragonflies, damselflies, water boatmen, backswimmers, water snails, and even a couple of mystery goldfish (we can only assume they came in with the aquatic plants). And, yes, we have mosquitos, but we had them anyway, and at least there’s more stuff to eat them now.

There’s a pebble beach at one end – built for birds and hedgehogs, but has become a popular hangout spot for the local honeybees. There are dragonfly perches, regularly in use. And behind the pond there’s a bed that will one day be full of wildlife-friendly plants, but is currently home to my overflow winter squash plants, giving a slightly mad, whimsical air.

Ringo the cat, squash patch, pond.

The cats love it, too. Not just because they occasionally glimpse a frog or fish. They drink from it. (I’m sure they think we’ve built them a lovely big water bowl, the narcissists.) One of our cats, Mulder, even developed a habit of fishing out long strands of algae and running proudly around the garden with them in his mouth. (He’s forlorn now that the algae has disappeared.)

In short, it’s the best addition ever. The new buzzing, rippling heart of our garden.

Even a little pond will bring endless joy and life to your garden. If you’re thinking about making one, we learned everything from the YouTube channel, Wild Your Garden with Joel Ashton. He’s got a particularly helpful three-part series where he builds a wildlife pond from scratch. We basically did everything he told us – from the construction, to planting, and wildlife-friendly features like the beach, dragonfly perches, sunken wood, and so on.

What to eat this week: go Greek

Let’s all go Greek this week, with Georgina Hayden’s Spanakorizo (spinach, tomato and lemon rice) from the book Nistisima. It’s got ‘last summer hurrah’ vibes, but is also hearty enough for an autumn dinner. We made it with chard from the garden instead of spinach, and it was delightful.

If you’ve got the book it’s on page 210, but if not, you can find the recipe here.