IT'S all about turning a negative into a positive, isn't it? That's exactly what I have done in one particular area of my own garden.

Where once I had a pile of broken old stones, I now have a sculptured wildlife pond. Every garden has that little corner tucked away, almost (but not quite) out of sight, where debris and rubble has collected over the years. My 'little corner' was the remains of an old, tumbled-down animal shed. I had no idea what lay beneath the pile of stones, but the location seemed ideal for placing a pond. It was in a quiet area of the garden, not too overlooked by shrubs or trees. Trees near a pond can cause root damage to the bottom of the pond or liner. In autumn, the leaves will fall directly into the water and decay there. They may also cause too much shading to the surface of the water. An overdose of sun is not a good idea either. It can lead to a nasty build up of algae and prolonged water evaporation. My chosen area received a mixture of sunshine and shade throughout the day.

I have to admit that I had put this particular job off weekend after weekend, as I guessed that it would be fairly heavy going. Then, one sunny Saturday I was faced with the alternative of creating my pond or painting the ceiling beams.

The hardest bit about any garden design work is making that first move. Once I had removed the first few stones, the rest came up one by one. The soil underneath wasn't too bad, and I managed to dig out my desired shape without too much effort. I tried to keep the shape as simple as possible, a tapered teardrop with a range of depths and slopes. This allows for a greater variety of habitat creation as some plants prefer deeper or shallower waters. Most importantly, I created a gently sloping shelf in the smaller end so that any wildlife could enter and escape.

Now I knew what size my pond was going to be, I rushed out to my nearest garden centre to buy the liner. In some areas you can just about get away without a liner, especially if you have extremely heavy soil. I was playing safe though and opted for a black 'pvc' liner. They are not the best that you can get, as they do not mould as easily as some of the rubberised ones, but it would do the job and last a good ten to 20 years. It was also much, much cheaper.

There is a formula for determining the amount of liner that you will need. You need three measurements. The length, width and depth of the pond. Times the depth by two and add it to the length. This is how long you want your material to be. Then, times the depth by two and add it to the width. This is how wide you want your material. For good measure (and good luck) add another two foot onto each measurement.

Now, you need something to cushion the liner from small stones and things in the bottom of the pond. I used off cuts of carpets and old dog blankets. Newspaper is quite effective and sand is good too. I gently laid the liner over the padding and carefully pressed down in the middle to get a rough fit. Then I turned on the hosepipe and slowly began filling it up. As the mass of water crept into all the nooks and crannies it pulled the liner into place. I went round with the scissors and trimmed the liner, leaving an overhang of about 12 to 14 inches. On top of this I placed the stones that I had removed at the very beginning of the operation.

These made a soft and natural edging to the pond. The cracks in between would house insects and amphibians or could be planted up with low growing creepers.

I dashed back down to the garden centre and excitedly bought a handful of pond plants. I tried to limit myself, as I know pond plants can go wild and soon take over. I ended up with one small water lily, two small oxygenating plants, one iris and a marginal flowering plant which was a good mixture of practical and pretty, deep and shallow plants.

Most garden centres sell pond plants already potted up in their baskets with aquatic compost and a layer of gravel on the surface. All I had to do was slip them into the water, wait and watch.

I am quite proud of my pond and often wander down by the waterside just to chill out after a day's work. I already have a colony of frogs, diving beetles, pond skaters and an array of weird-looking, alien-like larvae. I can look forward to dragonflies, tadpoles and perhaps if I am really lucky, newts.

Published: 15/06/2002