Share
I am currently creating a sanctuary garden in my backyard under a massive magnolia tree. When I first bought my home the yard was pretty bland, and under the tree was a big dirt patch where only weeds grow. I have always wanted a Frog Hotel & Mini Lilly Pond and I thought this would be the perfect place for it since I hear frogs around the property quite regularly. The Frog Hotel & Mini Lilly Pond is only a small part of what i'm doing but was a project in itself, it was a about half a days worth of work.
Check out the steps below to see how I created it and watch this space for future updates.
Materials
Hessian Garden Bag 110L (Bunnings)
Ezy Storage 9L Round Plastic Basin (Bunnings)
Ezy Storage 16L Round Plastic Basin (Bunnings)
Rocket Medium Sanding Sponge (Bunnings)
Tarzans Grip (Bunnings)
Black Square Hanging Basket Hook (Bunnings)
Tuscan Path 5kg Natural Mixed Pebbles (Bunnings)
Frog Plant (Bunnings)
Assorted plants including 3 x Tiny Tots (Bunnings)
Native Violet (Local Landcare Nursery)
Bromeliad (The Dirty Gardener)
Water Lilly (Wallis Creek Watergarden)
River rock (Blue Gum Landscaping Center)
PVC Pipe of various widths (My Garage)
Tools
RYOBI 18V ONE+ Reciprocating Saw
RYOBI 18V ONE+ Drill Driver
RYOBI Tape Measure
Scissors
Shovel
Steps
Step 1
Find the spot in your garden you wish to add this feature, a few things to take into consideration are:
Is it protected?
Does it get enough sun for your Water Lilly?
The purpose of building a frog hotel is to give tree frogs somewhere to remain safe from predators. So a good place is under a tree with filtered light, think about how the frogs will get to the hotel or pond safely. I placed mine under some low hanging branches and as you will see towards the end I added a laneway to the hotel as well.
Step 2
Take both round basins and decide on the layout. I placed the small one at the back and the large one at the front.
Turn them upside down and make a indent in the dirt to give you a guide where to dig. Dig both holes to preference. I placed the large one completely level to the ground and the small one at the back was only half way into the ground.
You don't have to use plastic basins, you can use more decorative pots but I was trying to cut costs and I wanted to use other items to make it look more natural as you will see.
Step 3
Start to place some of you river rock around the basins to hold them in place and make sure you are happy with positioning. Be mindful to make sure both basins are completely level to avoid water spilling out one side.
Step 4
Optional: Laneway
Measure and cut one long piece of PVC pipe that can hang from close to the tree branches down to just above the plants surrounding the frog hotel. This piece will require a hole drilled into it for the hanging basket hook.
Step 5
Take the remaining your PVC Pipes and Measure then to the length you like, I had mine all at different lengths and was somewhat restricted because I was using PVC pipes I found in the garage. Once measured cut with the Reciprocating Saw and sand down the edges.
Optional: I was told to Drill a hole 15-20cm from one end of each pipe to stop it holding too much water. But I found this wasn't very necessary as I didn't seal the bottom of the pipes.
Step 6
Take your hessian garden bag and cut the stitching so you have one big piece. Then measure against your PVC pipes. You will find that where the bag was stitched together there is a hem I wrapped this around the visible end of the pipe.
Glue the hessian to the pipe, you can use a hot glue gun but I thought I'd try my luck with some Tarzans Grip and so far so good.
Step 7
Place the pipes in the back (smaller) basin and start to add river rocks & natural mixed pebbles to hold them in place being mindful not to over fill it.
You can secure the pipes with silicon or a hot glue gun but I decided not to.
Step 8
Start to add plants I had a few water plants and a few plants to add amongst the rocks I took my time deciding where to put everything but your bottom basin should be perfect for a mini Water Lilly. (Be mindful when shopping not to buy one too big for this space.)
Tip: Try to add rain water to the basins if possible as frogs don't like tap water.
Step 9
If you decided to follow step 4 and add a lane way hang it in your desired location. As you can see it was perfect to hang from my colourbond fence.
I added a plant to this as well but I am not sure if it will last, I'll be keeping an eye on it to see if i need to make changes.
Step 10
Final step, add any final river rocks & natural mixed pebbles. Add any decorative items, I added some branches I found and a cute stone frog in hope it will confuse the frogs predators.
Welcome to the Bunnings WOrkshop community @Insposeeker. It's great to see you taken an interest in this wonderful project. Hopefully, @Herrenovacation will get back to us with an update.
Let us know if you need a hand in creating your own frog oasis. Here's a helpful guide: How to build a frog hotel.
Mitchell
Hello @Insposeeker
Thanks so much for taking interest in my project.
I still don't have frogs 😥 but as you can see the tadpoles are growing bigger.
A month or so ago I was worried they were not growing so I got some fish food in case there was a lack of food in my little pond considering how many of them there were.
I have also done some research and found if the spot is shaded or cold this can delay the growth which it is.
I'm sure once the weather starts to warm up again I will be able share a more exciting frog update. 🐸
