We have worked hard to get the most out of limited space in our garden. The borders were mature when we arrived and the forsythia always bursts into a yellow haze - signally the arrival of spring proper.
Last year we utilised space on the brick wall to grow vegetables - producing a bumper crop of tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers. A hanging basket provided little tomatoes in abundance and the over-hanging cherry plum tree rained down ripe, amber spheres well into October.
I had contemplated a water feature of some description for a couple of years and, having researched a few options, decided a mini-pond was the way to go. We opted for a rustic half-barrel, i dug it into a wider area of the border - sealing and painting the interior to ensure it was water tight and would not allow whiskey residue into the water.
A visit to the garden center provided three decent aquatic plants - reeds, lillies and a water orchid (water plants are seriously expensive it transpires!). Bricks and a flower pot were used to raise the plants and the boys then helped by adding the water.
I am off to a family friend, who has a welter of spawn and frogs, to take a small sample and establish our foundation stock. It will be wonderful for the boys to see metamorphosis in action, Todd understands the principles so well and can witness the process first hand. As a child we had a small pond in our back garden - it was teeming with life and i was amazed by the diversity hovering within the limited aquatic confines. You could pull out Crested newts, Smooth newts and of course lots of frogs.
This is a step back into my childhood and another step forward for my children. A pond doesn't have to be big - life will always find a way.
