Finishing off pond edging on a tight budget

Last year a garden center was selling off rolls of turf...it was super cheap ..not fit to use as a lawn so I got some and pinned it down with wire soil side up with a good 6 inches in the water ,you can then plant into ,it wasn't a complete success but it was worth trying,although I watered it in the baking summer some did colapse into the pond but the newts love it.

 

Long day at work so only just getting a chance to look at replies, thanks to all of you that took the time to!



I found an image of the liner in place so you can better see what’s happening under the water. Taking into consideration all your ideas, here’s what I’m currently thinking:



I’m hoping that this can be achieved somewhat without having to buy new stones so it’ll only be plants I really need to budget for. And then the actual pond plants too.

I haven’t figured out where to put the water return yet from the pump. I’m not really looking for a full blown waterfall, just the sound of water falling back in.

 

I wondered if that area on the left had a slope @latimer, but I wasn't sure. That will be ideal for the 'beached' area for wildlife, but it looks quite steep, so you may want to amend it a little - rocks etc, so that the gravel doesn't keep washing down into the pond itself.
You may want to have your water trickling effect somewhere on the right hand side - maybe near where your planting shown in green ends, so that any gubbins is hidden, and it will then seem like a little fall of water coming from further away. Once you've decided on that, then you can get the rocks sorted, and mortared if necessary, and bog areas created if you're going for that. Some of the moisture loving Irises could be good - height is quite important for certain insects, and you'll get those from lots of retailers. I've just bough a few bare root sibiricas from F. Gracy, which are potted up, until I find the best site for them. They may still have offers if you're able to fork out for a few of those.
It's worth getting a few plants though - just so that there's time for them to establish nicely, and it'll then look good next year. One for the deepest part will be fine as it won't be affected by any work you need to do around the edges etc.
You can always bung in a few annuals or similar, to fill gaps around the edges until you have enough plants for permanent planting. It'll be great once you get it all going though

 

Thanks @fairygirl looks like I’m roughly on the right track then!

I’ve ordered 6 bareroot iris from F Gracy but wanted to ask, how deep does the liner need to go below the soil in the area where I’ll be planting? 6in enough or will I need more depth? And how far from the edge of the pond do I keep the soil to prevent it falling in?

 

I buried the liner edges by making a slit with my spade (maybe an inch or so from pond side) and then folding the liner over and down into the slit. The top of the fold is maybe under an inch of soil. Hope that makes sense?

 

Makes perfect sense @Butterfly6 and was a lot closer to the edge than I expected!

 

Sorry @latimer - I left just after I posted that last comment I posted!
@Butterfly6 has answered it though. You can really suit yourself as to how far away you tuck in liner though. If you had enough spare, you can do the bog garden sort of idea too, but you can always do that separately anyway with old compost bags, or similar, if you fancy it. The liner/plastic layer would need holes in it.
The type of soil you have is also a factor, but as long as the barrier between the soil and the pond is sound, the soil won't end up in the pond. Any plant that can drape and fall across edges is useful, but bear in mind that roots and plants touching the water itself can act like a wick, which may not be ideal.

 

That’s a good point @fairygirl. When we first inherited our pond, the grass went right down and over the edge. It acted like a wick especially in summer and the water level was always quite low

 

So I think I’m on the right lines here, I’ve lowered pay of the section where the stones are and have started tucking the liner in behind them in other places.

where I’m going to create a boggy area, is this how I do it? Or do I not create a break between the two sections of soil? And what prevents the soil washing into the pond?

 

Your boggy area doesn't necessarily have to be right next to the pond @latimer . You can have it alongside a 'normal' area, because you're creating a separate bed. If you have it next to the pond itself, you'd need a bit of a barrier to prevent soil going in, and that can be more rock, or a small line of concrete [which is also easy to do] and that can be hidden by some evergreen planting.
In any natural setting a boggy area would be next to the pond, and the levels will always fluctuate in both, but in a garden setting, it's all false and we want it to look good for as much of the year as possible, so it's just a case of trying to make something which looks natural - but of course, isn't

I think so many areas are getting those long periods of drought now @Butterfly6, so anything that's hanging into and touching the water itself is always going to wick water away, and means topping the pond level up, which is also a tricky subject with the hosepipe bans and needing collected water for plants themselves. Always a balance, but if I lived in a dry area, I'd try and avoid too many overhanging plants that can soak that water up from the pond.

 

Thanks @fairygirl i think that makes sense. I think I’ll probably not make a big area just yet (though I am not worried about where I’ll plant those iris I bought!!)

i think it’s almost there.

 

Next step, planting! I learned yesterday that borage does not like transplanting. Not 10 mins after putting them in the ground they totally wilted over lol.

I do need to find a few more logs for the far side and some ground cover for under the trees and shrubs. I’m not sure how I’ll plant under the tree, there are a lot of shallow roots under there.

 

It's coming on well @latimer
You might find that the easiest way to underplant round the tree is to grow some small plants [from seed or plugs] and plant out at this time of year or so, while they're still small, and you can get them in more easily. They should establish well enough and grow over summer, and then be well adapted for the following year. It always helps if you can get a little bit of decent soil in while you're planting, but it's trial and error. Anything that will cope with some shade and drier soil will work. Ajuga is always an easy bet and pulls out fairly easily too if it gets a bit 'keen' ! I use Saxifraga urbium [London Pride] in that kind of site, but if it gets very dry long term where you are, it may not do so well. I remember someone with a London based garden saying they couldn't grow it in shade because of that. There will be plenty of plants that will work though.

Polemonium [Solomon's Seal] is a good plant for overhanging the water, especially if the soil
s moisture retentive enough.

 

I do like the look of the Ajuba @fairygirl and the London Pride. Going to see if I can find a white variety, my wife keeps complaining that all the flowers are blue and purple in the garden!

Good news though is that it looks like the borage is bouncing back, it’s all perked up a bit. Yesterday’s dismally wet day must have helped.

 

I don't think there's a white Ajuga, and the L. Pride is very very pale pink. I hate light pink, but that often looks quite white, depending on what it's with. It's been useful this year though because of the slug devastation being even worse than usual. Virtually every daff was eaten here.

The 'normal' saxifrages come in white, and they'll manage moisture as long as they're not sitting in permanently wet soil, and as long as they get reasonable amounts of light. I have lots of it around the pond, and in the garden generally. It's just finished flowering in most sites. Pulsatillas come in white too, so that could be useful, and they take a fair bit of shade. They flower around April - often at Easter, hence their common name of Pasqueflower. Nice seedheads on them too.
Plenty of crocus are white. The later, big ones - Joan of Arc are pretty good with a bit of shade.

I just looked, and there is a white Ajuga. It may not be as vigorous as the blue ones, just like many white plants.