Eaten by the goldfish

It does get below freezing I’m sure, so I’d imagine 6 inches of water would freeze over

@@markfigueroa2549 Thx

In my area of the South, USA the winter temperatures rarely get below 15F (-9.44C). A typical winter night is 37F (2.78C). It is recommended that we have a section at least 3’ in depth for the animals to overwinter. The large ornamental pond I had previously was 4’ because that’s what we were advised to have. We don’t get really cold weather until January and it lasts 2-3 months, depending on the year. Friends from the UK told me how to set it up- that was 30+ years ago. It was hard to find information about building a backyard garden pond, aka a koi pond. Now you can find so much information online- and there are different types. This time I will be combining a typical koi pond design with a wildlife pond design. Wildlife ponds have sloped sides and are open to the land around them so that frogs, turtles and other animals can access them more easily. The koi pond I had was beautiful but lacking in the wildlife! I had expected lots of creatures to be residents because we lived in the country near a large river and ponds. I now realize that it was not “friendly.” It had lots of vegetation, the proper depth but no way to get in and out. It was surrounded by boulders to hide the rubber liner. My new pond will be different. Half of it will be sloped upwards to the yard and the other half will have ledges at different depths for water plants. I will not be using liner but trying to use a combination of packed clay, (which is our natural substrate), bentonite clay which swells and seals and fresh duck poop, of all things! The bacteria in duck poop works with the clay to make it impervious. (Or so it is claimed!) My new town has a small lake with lots of obliging residents to help with the bacteria! I lived near the ocean before where the soil is porous because of the high sand content. A liner was necessary. Now, I am concerned about the environmental impact of using plastic liners long term. If I can make a pond with a clay bottom and plants native to my area, I hope to see more creatures sharing my property. I plan to harvest seeds, not plants, from the local ponds and streams to seed the pond. We have some nurseries online that sell native plants too. I hope Poland is not experiencing what we are in the US. We have invasive species that are taking over our land, waterways, lakes and the ocean. Some are native to the US but have been introduced to areas where they do not belong and they are out competing the native species who should reside there. Others, like the lion fish, were never here and now have spread from the tropics northward. I hope that your pond has become a reality! I missed the cool weather and now must wait until the cooler weather arrives in the fall. When it gets into the 90’s, it is too hot to be outside.

Our pond became a buffet for a Great Blue Heron. He was feasting on my koi. I was not happy with him. There was a lake across the street and a river a quarter of a mile away. Someone told me he was being lazy!

@@merk9569 Hi and thank you for your response. Time ago I spent over 2 years down in Texas and Tennessee and I can tell you in Poland is not as hot. June, July and August we get over 90F. But only in July nights are hot. Besides nights get chilly so you can easely cool down. I'm fixing to go more for a wildlife pond with sloped edges. Unfortunately we also have some invasive species. But the same as you I use natives. Sorry to hear about heron and your koi.

If you choose the right plants, they die back and come again in the spring. I've had the same water lilies for more than 20 years.