Sunday, 7 April 2024

Wildlife Pond

 We popped to my favourite garden centre which has a good aquatic shop, I manage to purchase these 3 plants, hubby and I choose them together, these are bigger than I wanted, BUT, with me there is always a but, 2 of them I will separate into smaller pots, making 5 plants not 3. For now they fill the space.

The pond liner was not working, I'm not able to keep the water level to a decent depth, the plant pots are five inches and I would like them submerged, so change of plan, I had a nice tub which I had a spring display, but it kept waterlogged with all the rain. Humm I wonder would it fit, right size, not as wide as I wanted, the aquatic plants fit.

Hopefully I won't need to work on this anymore, I am very pleased, I have the depth I wanted and the top bowl runs into the lower pot, it's not as wide as I wanted, but still plenty of water. I added the grass from this tub to the back corner and piled loads of pebbles around and filled the gaps with pretty gravel.
 I'm not worried if the sides can be seen, this is the working end of my garden, hopefully the plants will grow and soften the edges, I would like some drift wood for a bug bridge, but for now it's done, the water should settle and clear.
This lovely plant I have had for years, it sits in a plastic bowl, no drainage holes as it loves to be water logged, it's a huge plant, the curled long leaves fascinate me. I have already popped a cutting into one of my ponds, I do love these plastic washing up bowls, being square with handles, this one is three years old, they are a perfect addition to our garden.  

Hubby is in the process of making me a huge bug house, which I want for the back section of the garden, he has cut 6 blocks and drilled different size holes, I can get one on top of the other on these shelves. The butterfly box fits in well, we are sorting other things to go in before adding a wire front. This is huge at my request, he has made a bird nesting box as well, he does love to make things, these with other bug areas should be fun with the younger grandchildren, as well as making our garden diverse. 

The pond is finished, it has cost me just under £40, for the liner (which was discarded) and the plants, I already had the containers, and stones which I had used in another part of the garden before we made our changes. It's been huge fun to put it together, looking around for things to use, I had 4 grasses, for someone who is not fond of grasses, I was surprised as I also have 3 in my butlers sink, two of the grasses had been split a couple of years ago, every gardener loves free plants. 

Later I will get floating weed to help keep the water clear, it's ready for anything to move in. I am hoping I have enough green cover outside the pond, it's nice to get a section completed, nothing much grew in this corner, not sure why, I have lost so many plants over the years. 

I'm not reading or crafting, all my time is outside, if it's raining, I have bits to do in the greenhouse and / or the garage. It feels good to growing things again. 

11 comments:

  1. Looks lovely Marlene. I might consider having a small pond here in due course.

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  2. Wnen purchasing plants. I always choose plants that I can divide when I get them home. It's a good time of year for dividing plants. I have some large Phormiums that need dividing this week.

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  3. Your pond looks lovely, isn't it fun putting one together? I've really enjoyed doing mine, I'm keeping watch now to see if the 🐸 come.

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    1. Same here, I do have a plastic green frog, inspired by yours, but fingers crossed I get real ones.

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  4. A pond is such a lovely addition to a garden and attracts so much wild life.

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  5. I love your wildlife pond. It looks beautiful. I hope you get frogs or toads in there. We often find a toad in our garden and usually send it next door where they have a small pond. They are quite cute and often seem to appear out of nowhere.

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  6. Thoroughly enjoying your garden posts. It will be fun to see if something moves into the pond.
    Glad to hear George is home.

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  7. I think a pond can make a nice addition to a garden and yours is looking good.

    I like the look of your bug house too.

    All the best Jan

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  8. Well done Marlene. I want Harvey to make me a couple of bat houses to help keep the mosquito population down. Hopefully he does so.

    God bless.

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  9. Lovely! I have a similar container pond in my garden, which at the moment has Marsh Marigolds in full bloom! I think you have to have water in a garden! Love your bug house, too! 😁

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  10. The pond area looks great and the bug mansion will be a magnet for so many little creatures to use.

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