Rescuing what once was a beautiful (small) garden...

So - I'll start off by asking you to forgive what will probably be a long post ...
My South Wales valley garden was lovely when I moved in. Unfortunately, I had a house fire in late 2018 and had to move out while the house was repaired. Needless to say, my mind was elsewhere and the poor garden got somewhat neglected, during which I lost a lovely eucalyptus tree, and my bottle brush bush is looking very sad (all the blooms appearing on the end of bare branches).
I have to say I am a pretty ignorant gardener and very short of £s ...although full of enthusiasm! I have saved hard and this month, I am having a new fence erected (which, hopefully, will help stop the ingress of my neighbour's brambles) and intend to refresh the gravel too. You can see from the photos that I have made a start...and also that I have loads to do!!
I have loads of questions already...and will no doubt come up with more as the project goes on...and hope I don't bore you all stupid.
1. There is a small above ground fish pond that is now leaking and much of the wood surround has rotted. I'm intending to replace the rotten wood and pond liner and was thinking of capping the wood planks with something like ceramic tiles or (depending on cost) some composite decking planks. Question: what external grouting is safe for aquatic plants/fish (if I go down the tile route) and: how are composite decking planks fixed into place (if I go down that route)?
2. How do you work out what 'variety' of plant you have when it's already in situ? e.g. I have a honeysuckle which, I think, needs pruning right down (there are lots of woody stems before you get any leaves, and it doesn't flower much) BUT according to research, depending what variety of honeysuckle it is informs when/if it should be pruned?
Please watch this space for more questions....they will come, I assure you

 

Hi @Mitramonday and welcome to Gardenerscorner! Honeysuckles are tough blighters - I would just prune it when you feel up to it, and then feed and water if necessary - you may lose flowers one year, but it'll come back. As for your eucalyptus, I have grown big specimens from seed in only a few years - and if you buy a cheap young plant on ebay (of, say E. perriniana) it will soon get going! Re the bottle brush, if you pm me your address, I can send you a young plant to get you going again (grown from seed, the tough red flowered one). They tend to only flower at the tips anyway, as new growth comes beyond the old seed heads. I'm sure the more expert members regarding had landscaping can advise about the pond.

 

Re the honeysuckle, the ones with unusual pruning I've met have been the bush type. If you've got one which grows as a woody creeper up a wall or other support and flowers in summer, there shouldn't be many surprises there. Prune it as you need.

 

Wow!! That's so kind of you Caroline! I will indeed PM you my address...once I work out how to PM on here

 

Hi again...a little update on my rescue project and more advice needed!
So, my garden has been pruned (aka 'scalped') in preparation for my new fence which arrived this week...yay! Unfortunately, I accepted the very kind offer of a neighbour to rebuild my (above ground) pond as it was leaking and much of the original wood had rotted. Why "unfortunately"? Well...let's just say that when someone offers to do something for me, I 'assume' that they have some idea of what they're doing (I tend to be the person who knows 'how' to do something, but am not able to actually execute it! I, at least, know that it's a good idea to check the length of screws you're using?). To say that he did a 'botch' job is to be gentle with my language...the resulting pond isn't level, isn't square...and is leaking again (despite a new liner, which has probably been pierced by screws that are too long)..see pics below. I do have to say that it was very generous and kind of my neighbour to offer, but now I need to do rectify it.
I have been given a 'plasterer's bath' that would seem to be an answer (my bro-in-law will build a platform and surround for it), but I don't know what plastic it is moulded from (there are no markings on it to tell me). So, in fear of it leaching chemicals into the water, I either need to get another liner to line it (which seems a little 'over the top') or to spray it with some kind of fish-safe paint/varnish. Does anyone know what I could use (obviously, it will be underwater permanently so needs to be suitable for that)? Thank you in advance!