A landscape gardener with a vision…
…to enable children to learn about nature in an entertaining way.
Passionate about teaching children about the environment – Outside!
My Story
My first environment based project was at primary school where I built a hedgehog house. I then built a wave machine at secondary school to study coastal erosion, I then built a humane squirrel trap and designed a glacial reconstruction tank when I studied Geography at Exeter University.
I then worked in IT in London for a few years “building things” using software but it didn’t feel the same. I decided to follow my passion. I became a landscape gardener and as time went on I re-kindled my passion for conservation. I thought back to my younger days having so much fun and learning about the environment through projects done at home and at school I wanted to un-lock this feeling for others.
So I built a “build your own pond kit”
Designed to entertain 4 to 12 year old children for hours
Why Ponds?
It all starts with water…all life requires water to thrive, a pond is a great way of producing a hub for nature in your garden. Many species will utilise the water source and your child will experience the most life.
Ponds are carbon sinks…a pond supports more life and stores carbon in it’s waters so can actually off-set more carbon per square meter than you would think! Ponds can significantly improve surrounding soil quality and the overall health of the local ecosystem. They act as miniature, natural, water-management systems that enhance biodiversity, increase soil moisture, and provide a source of nutrient-rich fertilizer.
Ponds change…as seasons change and weather changes, the local nature will interact with the pond differently and all these changes can be observed. Creating a point of interest in your garden for years to come.
Why did we choose tube packaging?
The tubes can be cut into up to 12 plant pots that can be used to germinate your seeds that come included with the build your own pond kit.
This is a great way of getting you child into growing plants from our seeds designed to attract bees and pollinators or other seeds you have bought from the super market. Which can be another source learning and entertainment watching butterflies and bees do their thing!
Uses for a pond
Taking 1 – 5 hours to build.
Teach children about nature.
Watch as life comes to the pond
Nurture more wildlife.
A pond takes in C02 from the environment.
Improve your garden’s look.
My journey to designing the pond kit…
My 1st Pond
I asked my Grandma if I could build a pond in her garden… She loves her garden and I wanted to see if I could attract some more life into the area and give her another area of interest.
However, this pond was too un-protected from sunlight and did not have a natural corridor for animals to risk the journey to the pond. The water levels have dropped despite rain and only a few micro organisms can be seen swimming the water…I have also learnt that these plastic bucket pond liners contain a sheer drop and can trap animals inside the pond and due to the smooth plastic surface, plants will struggle to plant their roots.
This lead me to re-think and build a 2nd pond…
My 2nd Pond
I built my second pond at my allotment in Shottery using a new pond liner. I cut a larger liner down to 1sqm for this pond but quickly discovered if the pond is to be the required depth of 60cm in order not to freeze then this liner is much too small. I also dug my boarders to steep which has made the pond deep but small.
The basics are there, but the pond liner is too small, time to build a 3rd pond!
My 3rd Pond
After building my 3rd pond, by adapting my 2nd pond to have more gentle slopes around the pond, the pond has now become larger and deeper, however, the pond liner is still too small. This lead me to sell a larger than 1sqm liner to create a larger pond which will ensure it has a consistent temperature all year.
I adjusted my log area to create a “nature corridor” from the compost heap to the pond to all animals hiding there to come and drink and animals in the pond to go an hunt for slugs, ants and beetles.
My 4th Pond
After some tinkering, I finally got the look I was going for. I added some rocks at the bottom to create a place for small animals to hide.
Next I need to add some oxygenating plants!
