Pond plants!

[VikingMummy2015]

So, I now have my hole in the ground full of water, and now I need to make it look nice. It’s wildlife only, no deliberate fish stock.

Suggestions please (and if anyone has cuttings for the price of postage?). It’s all on a budget given the whole garden is being completely made over and I still need to buy several tons of slate chippings, bark and shingle as well as more plants (and dig out an unsafe area to turn into a terraced bed, so need to get that walled too).



The plan is to add more soil around the slate to bed it in and provide somewhere for ground cover/marginals. I want to plant up the wheelbarrow so the plants “spill” down towards the pond. I just don’t know WHAT to plant in there.

[fr499y]

Creeping Jenny or phlox carpets nicely.

[BigBen]

Elodea Densa grows like wildfire in mine and works as an oxygenator I believe. Unfortunately I chucked a metric tonne out a couple of weekends ago. Probably costs about the same as postage anyway, usually very cheap.

[LookoutTrout]

I can't see if you have a ramp for things to climb out of the pond, wildlife will thank you for it and you shouldn't find any drowned small animals in there.

[VikingMummy2015]

I can't see if you have a ramp for things to climb out of the pond, wildlife will thank you for it and you shouldn't find any drowned small animals in there.

The ramp is built in (made sure to get one with the ramp) and I’ll have the plants arranged so there’s a good egress whilst still covering up the edges.

[plankton]

If you're going for slate chippings, buying in bulk from a quarry/distributor is a lot cheaper than buying bags from the garden centre.
I did our front garden last year for about £120 when it would have cost over £250 when I totted it up going to any of the local garden centres/building supplies.

[VikingMummy2015]

If you're going for slate chippings, buying in bulk from a quarry/distributor is a lot cheaper than buying bags from the garden centre.
I did our front garden last year for about £120 when it would have cost over £250 when I totted it up going to any of the local garden centres/building supplies.

The difficulty is access. There’s no parking out front for a lorry to unload a tonne bag and even then it has to get transported through the walkway between houses which has a step either end, then a sharp turn into my back garden and then there’s a low raised patio area plus three steps to get up! It adds hundreds onto any labour costs.

[plankton]

That's a shame.

[Staffylover]

I possibly have spare plants, will send you a PM

[VikingMummy2015]

I added some plants to my wheelbarrow and then some carpeting plants around the outside. A couple of phlox, thyme, campanula and one that has slipped my mind, plus things like echinacea and asters, iris, a fern in the barrow. My folks have said they’ll help out with some more garden plants and stuff for my birthday instead of the traditional Amazon gift voucher I end up spending on the wee man’s monthly food deliveries! And I added a wee squirty solar fountain for a pleasant trickle noise when I’m out there…can’t leave it running all day as it nearly drained the pond when I left it running the first day . I can’t decide if I’ll keep the solar air stone running or not, it’s not doing any harm at least but I don’t like the trailing cable look.