Making a mini pond from a £1.49 washing up bowl found in Aldi- Bargain!

Hello, please excuse me for being so exited about this! Got to get pleasure where I can!

I've been looking at articles and thinking about making mini pond for ages. I've found the odd toad or frog in the garden over the years to my delight. Last year three of them were hiding under a plastic tray where I'd been watering pots for ages. They were all lined up underneath. I got quite fond of them!

I really want to encourage toads in the garden as the adults eat slugs and snails - something I have a big problem with particularly as I keep forgetting to hunt them down and relocate them!

I'd expected to have to pay quite a bit - having seen pictures of glamorous ceramic bowls.

However on my regular shopping trip to Aldi I found a rectangular washing up bowl in dark grey so cheap - about the price of a bag of frozen chips. Just the thing.

So once the snow has gone and the ground unfrozen I'll be out with my spade.

I plan to dig down so the rim is only just above the soil level. I then plant to surround it with some gravel,  stoneand cobbles I have left over from another project.

Then I need to use small logs or bricks or small rocks to build a ramp in and out of the "pond" to make sure nothing gets trapped in there such as hedgehogs.

I'll collect rainwater to fill it as apparently that is best.

I'm planning to site it in a shady border near the house which has some small shrubs in it which will provide cover. With a really small pond it can't be in full sun as it will get too hot according to my research.

Nearby I'm going to  make a toad or frog house. Apparently I need to make a hole about 30 cm deep and fill it with rocks and logs to make "corridors" for amphibians to hide in. I need to mound these up to be about 10 cm higher than the surrounding soil. I think I will then cover with something like a paving stone propped up on bricks to protect it further.

I have a shortlist of recommended plants though I can probably only fit one in. Rigid Hornwort or Water Milfoil or Marsh Marigold or Nymphae Pygmae.  Apparently these allow shade and cover and also places for emerging insects to sit.

My local garden centre sells aquatic plants but right now they all look dead and the water around them is frozen. I was advised its not the right time to buy! I tend to agree.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Take Care
Caroline
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To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Celebrity inspires and gives confidence to those with Aspergers - including me!

Hello, how are things.

Did you have a chance to watch the BBC2 documentary/film with Chris Packham "Asperger's and me". My son, who is on the spectrum recommended it and I was so glad I watched it. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Reviews I found on line said it was "stunning, brave and ballsy, utterly fascinating and incredibly moving".   Absolutely!

I am in awe of all he has achieved in his life in spite of (or perhaps because of )his Asperger's. Being a celebrity and being on camera most of his working life and in the public eye given that he is likely to find social interactions difficult and painful and needs a lot of solitude is astounding to me. I have found that if I am really passionate about something - an environmental campaign I ran, selling Mental Health First Aid to the bosses in my work place - then I can push myself to speak in front of other people but this is a once a year type of thing, not every day.

I am outwardly sociable and am told I can be good company and very funny but I find it exhausting and it makes me anxious to socialise for very long particularly if it involves groups of people. Going to a concert or (in the past) to church, parties, big family gatherings, weddings, funerals, training events, work meetings. I really struggle with them all and find I can be exhausted afterwards often with a migraine and need to head to bed at 6 or 7 in the evening and will sleep for 12 hours or more. I find I just want to shut down my brain completely - no books, no TV, no people. I struggle to say no to invitations and hate appearing rude or unfriendly either by not going or by my behaviour at the event. I don't like upsetting people at all.

But I do admire Chris in the programme. At one point his stepdaughter wants him to come to her graduation and he stands up for the fact he won't enjoy it and doesn't want to go. He also doesn't live with his long standing partner and lives alone in a beautiful, isolated rural location with his dog. He stands up for himself in terms of what he needs and what he finds difficult or painful to do.

He has given me more confidence in protecting myself.  I firmly turned down too many big social gatherings this Christmas. For example I have recently struggled with two new potential friendships going horribly wrong and it made me quite down until I realised that I have enough close relationships in my life - and realised I don't have to push myself continually to make more if it is at such a cost.

Chris had a huge response to his programme. Below is the link to his reply to everyone.

http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/news/aspergers-and-me-thank-you

I love where he talks about people who worked on the programme. "These people deserve more praise than I do . . . all I did was go on, and on, and on about birds, battles, art, cars . . . more birds . . . aeroplanes . . . books . . ."

I agree wholeheartedly with everything he says. In particular that each person with Autism, Asperger's or ASD is different and that we owe it to each other to talk about it. This is certainly a key motivation behind my blog. Even if I help just one person along their journey of discovery it will have been worth while.

I hope you enjoy watching as much as I did.

All the best
Caroline

Keywords: Autism, ASD, Spectrum, Asperger's, Social Anxiety, Wildlife, Friends, Exhaustion, Confidence, Help. celebrity inspire ballsy

fascinating moving BBC inspirational story relationships friendships