Goodbye lawn. Hello pond!

This is a pic taken today of one of our trays of Loddon Lilies.



If you look in this pic at the four trays of Loddon Lilies further on, you'll see what the frost did this winter to them.

The first tray was already in the water when the cold spell came but the other four were still on the patio waiting for their immersion as I'd hurt my back at the time and couldn't lift anything. Someone told me yesterday that frost dehydrates plants and that this was probably the reason why they haven't grown compared to their siblings in the foreground.




Don't look at the untidy stones. I'll have them sorted out in a couple of weeks. The tray on the left contains water lilies and the round pots at the rear contain Arrowheads.

 

Trays... Could you do something for your bog plants as an experiment and decide according to the results whether it works or not? Let's say when your back is already okay could you take your plants out of their containers, because sooner or later they'd grow out of it anyway and these plastic things would only obstruct them in growing and spreading.

Then pick one of the shallow areas and put some pond liner underlay or burlap to line the side of the rocks and divide them from the rest of the water, then shovel some more rich and heavy soil (mine is clay) into the surrounded area very carefully so as not to get into contact with the rest of the water? Plant your marginal plants into this medium, stick some plant feeder (e.g. Osmoc.te) next to their roots, and then put some washed and rinsed gravel on top of it all (about 2 inches thick layer would be enough), and everywhere around the edges to prevent the soil getting into direct contact with the water and prevent algae emerging as a result. Perhaps some of the plants appreciated if they had a lot of space to grow and that their root system could choose between being fully submersed into the water or allowing them to breathe.

Finally, about the inside of the water: have you cleaned the pond last autumn? It looks really very clean and empty now, and again, your waterlily is in a confined space. When they are feeling fine, they have a winding central root/rhizome as thick as a child's thigh, and they can grow as long as a yard. So perhaps it would be better to take them out of their containers and give them enough space and soil to grow in. If you have a large sheet of burlap, could you make a nice bag out of it? Then put a lot of rich soil in it, then in goes the waterlily and some more soil, then the fertiliser deep into its centre, then tie it up very carefully so as not to get into direct contact with the water (it's getting boring to be repeated so many times, I know, but that's the most important thing) and try not to hurt the rhizome either. Find a larger stone, tie it around the whole thing and let them sink into the deepest part of your pond.

As to the other waterplants: if you can find waterweeds anywhere, e.g. Cerastium, Myriophyllum, Vallisneria gigantea, Elodea, Egeria or anything else, please-please bring a bucket or two from them, and after giving them a good wash, just throw them into the water. They'll find their place in a week's time, and will begin to multiply sooner than you think and will help your water to remain clear and bustling with life...

 

Sorry to take so long in replying, Agatha M. The plastic trays are 60 cm by 40 cm so they are quite big and it is unbelievably handy to be able to move them around the pond by pulling them along with a large boathook.

I had to move two trays of Typhia Latifolia yesterday in order to put a water feature into the pond. Two seconds with the boathook and the the plants were repositioned!

When, eventually, a tray with water lilies gets congested, it'll be no problem to pull it out with a boathook and divide the plant.

No, I've no intention of ever emptying the pond and cleaning it (hopefully!). The water is always crystal clear but I did have a problem with blanket weed growing on the bottom in the deepest part of the pond. I've realised now that any soil that inadvertedly drops into the water slowly gravitates towards the deepest part and this is what the blanket weed was feeding on. I've made my own blanket weed remover tool that'll reach almost as far as the centre of the pond and I've almost cleared the whole lot out now.

The only time the water goes murky is when I put on my waders and go into the pond. No matter how carefully I go, clouds of muddy water mark my progress.

I'm trying to avoid "oxygenating" plants, although water mint is thriving. I might let that one stay!

The water in the pond is absolutely HEAVING with life. There are thousands of tadpoles, beautiful newts, sticklebacks, a myriad of insects including enormous Great Diving Beetles. My favourite insect is the Whirlygig Beetle.

Wild ducks arrived into the pond this morning. How do I get rid of them? Surely they won't be good for the newts and insects?

 

Pic of one of the new water features.



Pic of the other one. You can see the burger bun trays, which are so easy to reposition in the pond. The water actually is TOO clear because you can see the pump pipes, although it's lovely to look at the soup of insect life in the water. We now have juvenile sticklebacks (well, I presume they're juvenile sticklebacks) together with the fat tadpoles and beautiful newts swimming around.



And those wild ducks arrive every morning into the top area and I have to go out and clap my hands and schoo them away. They're not getting the message yet!

 

Is that waterfeature the stowasis large water veil?

 

No idea. I just bought it from a water gardening supplier in Kildare.

I had to get stainless steel base frames made up for the two of them. I'll put a pic up of one of the bases sometime.

 

That is such a neat water feature.....very cool.

 

The reason I asked was I had the smaller stainless steel version, yours looks like its doing what mine did.



The edges / joins where the "lip" is go dark and then rust. Stainless steel and copper do not rust, but mine did. (and like yours, mine was not that cheap)

 

Thanks Watergarden, PM'd you.


Newt surfacing for air in the pond this morning. All the newts look very well fed.

 

Anyone know what this?

Itâ??s an almost 3 metre tall grass growing in our pond with about a foot of it under the water.







This Arum Lily was frozen completely solid in the ice last winter but amazingly, although the foliage has grown dilapidated, it is starting to flower!



Blanket weed removed from its natural environment!



Arrowheads. I love this local plant.



My new style of growing water plants. Six pots to a burger bun tray! Making the job easier.



Bulrushes.



What is this plant? (Ignore the blanket weed!) Might it be Bog Bean? (Menyanthes Trifoliata)



I know this isnâ??t part of the water garden but I love my ferns! Dryopteris Filix-Mas.

 

Well, I eventually got rid of the mallards. Now I have a moorhen who has decided the pond is a Des. Res.



I canâ??t get a closer picture because he/she swims under these grasses (which I havenâ??t got an exact name for yet) and then stays submerged for longer than I have the patience to wait for it to come out.



Anyone got a good idea on how to de-moorhenize a pond?

 

Your pond is absolutely fantastic it was great looking at all the pics from the beginning :gnthb:

 

What's the problem with moorhens?
Most people would love to see them, they're quite small compared with ducks.

We get them nesting each year near the big pond on our golf course. The chicks look just like little black golf balls. The first clutch are up against it as there are at least three foxes living on the course. But the moorhens nest again in June when they can build one on the waterlily leaves in the middle of the pond so the chicks are safe.

 

Ah, but Doghouse, this one was as big as a duck. It wasn't a small little black coot. It was busily pecking at the water lily leaves all the time.

Don't get me wrong. I really love water hens and coots et al but a garden is a controlled environment where we select which flora to grow e.g. we don't want dandelions and docks. The same applies to fauna. Most are welcome but rats, ducks and moorhens are not at the moment. A badger made a total mess of our back garden earlier in the year. He made a good job of disassembling the old stone wall at the back too.

I love animals but when some of them get into a small area, they can cause havoc. If we had a bigger garden, then we could accommodate them. Perhaps, in a year or two, when the water lilies have grown stronger, we'll allow water hens back in. And, certainly, coots then; they're lovely. But, not ducks though. They're too dirty.

View of pond from our kitchen window today.

 

Mexican Agave on pavement.



Is this combination any good?
Centre piece: Arbutus Maritima.
Middle section: Fatsia Japonica.
Outside circle: Phormiums and Astelias. (The chocolate cosmos are just temporary.)




Diascias run riot. Honestly, I only planted seven plants a few weeks ago!



Ferns in 3â?? high goldfish bowl painted black.



Echiums, Arbutus Unedo and Magnolia Gold Star. I told the Magnolia it was going to be turfed out because I didnâ??t like it and in reply it grew from 1â?? high to over 4â??high in 3 months!!! I had been told that they were slow-growing!



This is a beautiful purple deciduous shrub.



This is another shot of the Magnolia thatâ??s determined to hold onto its position.



These grasses have been painted all colours with Dulux!



My second Agave from Mehico that has been planted next to the pond. (As soon as I planted it, it bucketed down!)



Purple Hop Bush. (Just hope we donâ??t get another hard winter as itâ??ll be â??Goodbye, Hopbush!â?



Weeping Sedge. A stunning local plant.



Lobelias and Weeping Sedge in the water.