I’ve never had a pond at the allotment or actually in the garden so this is an exciting new adventure. The header picture is my fantasy ideal!

In the best allotment traditions, the pond liner is an old steel bath. My neighbours tell me frogs have lived in the pond but along with the rest of the plot, it was overgrown and neglected. 

In this shot, the nettles mark the spot.

I’m at the stage now where everything is cleared. I’ve rebuilt the deck, although I don’t see me dangling my toes over the edge to dip in the pond.

The pond is lower than the level of the soil, so I’ve used old crazy paving to stop the soil from rolling into the bath.

There is an ongoing battle with the duckweed, I need to invest in a net.

This yellow trolley was a Christmas present. So much better than a wheelbarrow as all I need do is pull it along, the four wheels do all the work. That meant I could transport this log from the woodchip pile and use as a decorative soil barrier.

I plan to build a pallet bug house and place it at the tap end. Hopefully, these damp nooks and crannies will tempt back the frogs and other creatures (except the rats)

The water quality is slowly improving. I will add an oxygenator and other aquatic plants in the spring.

A question for you – are these snails? You can see them as black dots all around the edge of the pond.