Beginner's Guide

With a virgin piece of ground in which to dig a giant pond and being able to be there on site right from the start, I knew we could get it right. But life, the world, Sod's law and everything just dont let thingsThe site was levelled before the pond excavation proper started. happen too smoothly.

A QUICK GUIDE TO FLOATING PLANTS FOR PONDS IN THE UK

They are perhaps not quite as important as the other vegetative ingredients to a pond and some varieties can be a scourge particularly in slightly warmer climes than Britain. But if your lilies are slow to getLemna minor - duckweed their heads up and get moving, they provide invaluable pool cover and prove exceptionally efficient competition to algae.

Buccament Bay was in trouble. The guys on the ground in St Vincent in the Caribbean had started digging the first pond and because no one on site had ever dug a pond either large or small, there was a definite lack of confidenceThe hole was too big, too deep and not level.: The first job was to get the lads pumping out the water,but that was to prove to be the water table that had been breached. So another plan had to be devised. in the the direction in which they were going. In fact they were pretty sure that they were making a bit of a 'cock up' and when it is a 330,000 gallon pond you are digging a 'bit of a cock up' can easily turn into a 'God Almighty cock up!'

Despite sending innumerable plans and diagrams of techniques, and despite spending nearly £40 on telephone calls from my end, things still sounded as though they were drifting beyond a state of no return. There seemed nothing for it but to fly out to the rescue - Superpondman! As it was any way, they would soon get to a stage where a lot of decisions had to be made on site as the project progresssed into more complex stages, so it was a case of going out sooner rather than later.

Marginal plants provide protective cover too especially for the entry and exodus of animals to and from the pool. Their usefulness in the pool environment is that they are great users of nutrients and also serve to ‘landscape’ the pool into garden scene. They are called ‘marginals’ because they are generally planted around the margins of the pool, although between them they are tolerant of a quite range of water depths. In general they thrive in depths of water between 5 and 15cm above the soil they are planted in. This tolerance distinguishes them from Bog plants in that these will only tolerate moist soil where the water is draining away from the plant and not in a static slop.

Rupert Bridges from Aquatics Specialist Tetra offers advice and guidance

The recent weather may make it hard to believe, but spring really is on its way and, for most of us leaving the cold winter months behind and preparing for the spring sunshine is a refreshing thought. The same applies to ponds and their inhabitants which means now is the time to prepare your pond for the forthcoming months, as the rise in temperature brings about some key changes.

The most essential ingredient in any pond are the plants that oxygenate the water, often referred to in the aquatics trade as the OXYGENATING PLANTS or submerged aquatics. But what are the best and what ones do you want to avoid. Then how do you plant them?

WATER PLANTS AND PLANTING THE TYPES and THE CHOICE

NEW POND, NEW WORLD

The moment your new water garden begins to fill with water is the creation of a new environment in the garden. Here is a place for new possibilities but if left to its own devices would very quickly turn into a noxious lagoon of pea green slime. I am not knocking algae, even though algae in the form of microscopic single celled plants are what cause the green hue and goo, they are also responsible as a whole for the production of most of the oxygen on this planet. Algae have their place in the cycle of life in every pond, but they do need to be restricted. Like any bare piece of ground in a garden, if the gardener does not put in his own plants then nature takes over with what we usually regard as weeds. Algae are effectively the 'weeds' of water and can only be restricted with competition and suppressed by encouraging the growth of other plants in the environment. These higher plants have other functions too and they all work together to ensure a healthy environment in which all the animals and plants themselves can flourish.

FAQ: Our pond liner has lifted to the surface of the pond. Because of heavy rain the water table has pushed up from underneath.

Question: I have been looking at your website and found it very informative, in fact, I wish we had found it a year ago, before we embarked on our pond project.

DECEMBER/JANUARY in the water garden in the UK

What needs to be done with the water garden? Nothing. It is asleep. What has been done that needs to be done can now wait. As long as it is cold enough and the water is below 5°C, everything in it is blissfully unaware ofBubbles under the ice can be a bad sign. A hole needs to be made. everything, so don’t disturb it. After all you hate to be disturbed during your slumbers. Instead, appreciate the garden in its winter dress. Get into the Christmas spirit and brighten your house and the faces of your friends and neighbours with a few of the indoor plants that we have come to associate with this time of year.

JOBS LEFT UNDONE AROUND THE POND MAY BE A BONUS

In the first two or three years after planting, the more grassy marginals, particularly the Carex and Cyperus still look good in early winter. As everything else dies back to ground level, the clumpy grasses move in the wind, lending animation to an otherwise static scene.
The other tall marginal plants that you have failed to cut back may pay unexpected dividends if we get any hard frosts. Fronds of all herbaceous plants and some shrubs look stunning in winter sunlight covered in an icy hoar.
Dont go breaking a hole in the ice with a hammer. This will knock the fish senseless
What is more, even the most humble reed that has run to seed will provide excellent emergency rations for small birds and will help provide cover for any wildlife that needs a mid-sleep sip of water.
You may be able to use some of these seed heads in a dry plant display. A vogue that is set to return in force now people are beginning to forget the amount of dust that dried plants seem toInstead melt the ice with a pan of hot water. attract. The reed mace (Typha angustifolia) and even the Norfolk Reed (Phragmites australis) can be put to ornamental use. But beware they can be as much as a time bomb indoors as out, because at a certain times of dryness and humidity they can just deposit their seed head like an exploding dumper truck. Also impress upon any resident cats that a reed mace (bulrush) frond is not their Christmas present. To them it looks like a cross between a barbequed anorexic mole and a mouse kebab and definitely something to be torn apart, purely for scientific research of course!