Our property gets a great deal of
water flowing onto it during the wet season. Right now it collects in two low areas. There are "ponds" (giant puddles?) in these areas through late fall/winter and early spring. These areas are full of salmonberries and some thorny bushes. By summer they are bone dry.
We're planning on putting in some swales and digging one of the wet spots into a much larger
pond. I'd like to turn that area into a small wetland to encourage/keep our numerous frogs and attract other beneficials, and provide a place for future ducks and geese.
But how to keep the water there through summer? I don't really want to use a
pond liner, as I feel it's expensive, it's plastic, and I'm concerned we can't have a "real" wetland system there with a liner. I dunno, it just feels so "artificial". Our soil has little clay, being mostly silt and the rest sand (and tons of rocks). What can we do to help retain the water year-round other than using a liner?