Wildlife pond

 Moving the bigger plants, both agapanthus and dogwood, has given me more space here, being smaller one end does present issues, the bed was raised by previous owners, so digging down was not too bad, the hardest part was sieving all the soil, the previous owners had stones on all this back garden, which I took most away, but there were loads left in the soil, if I'm doing this area, I might as well do a good job.

All of the plants I already had, just moved them here, I did purchase a couple of big flat stones and the drift wood, hubby cut a spare paver into a basking stone, there is a hollow underneath for things to hide, I am much happier with this area now, there is more clear water to be seen, leaving the round container as a shallow pond makes it interesting. I have filled the bottom of the oblong container with loads of smooth stones and gravel, it looks natural as we can't see any plastic, the round tub has a different pale coloured grit.

I could not get a small lily, wrong end of the season, we got a plastic flower, just to give shade, but I don't like it, strange how something looks good in the shop and naff when you bring it home, I've used a different plant I already had in the middle. The water has cleared, it's filled with rain water, I'm hoping the bottom will become more like a river bed. The top back corner is slightly higher, so any excess water can run from the front corner, I don't want water disturbing the raised flower bed foundations. The plants should grow and cover most of the rim of the bigger pond.

My agapanthus has been split and put into a tub, where it has plenty of room to grow, two smaller plants are in tubs in daughters front garden. The tub can stay in this space under the Magnolia tree, plenty of room and I won't have to squeeze past when the blooms are out. I managed to get loads of fresh compost in, so it should thrive, they do like their roots to be confined.

It took a whole day to dig out the area, my agapanthus had been there for years and was huge and very stubborn to move, hubby dug out some more of the old willow tree root, removing everything gave me a lovely bigger space, I did not want the pond to fit neatly, I wanted an angle to create planting spaces. The second day saw me popping everything back, with a few different grasses, stones and other bits, including my green plastic frog (thanks Maggie). Today I will sort out all the tubs and tidy the veg section. 

The big pond has a few escape routes, I have piles stones and gravel in the back corner, they are to the top of the container, the drift wood has two points above the water level, and the plant  in the middle have leaves floating on the water. In the round container I have a wooden ladder for escape.

I am happy the big agapanthus is gone from this space, it looked good but it spilled over the path, not too bad until it bloomed and then I struggled to get by. I won't plant trailing plants next year in the raised bed behind, so no petals falling into pond, I am happy to wait for the grasses to grow and fill the surrounding garden.

Another job done, I do love a challenge and hard work never bothers me, I desperately want to see more wildlife in this back section of the garden, a frog or toad would be delightful and useful as pest control. We have noticed a few dragon flies this summer with the water features we already have. Our Magnolia tree shades this spot every morning, but is far enough away, so the leaves don't fall in the pond, it's not in full sun until later in the day. 

When sat in my chair, I can see right through the garden to this pond area, which is very satisfying, we have had a good rain storm which has bedded all the moved plants in.