Growing pond Marginal plants in a dry garden

There are times when you may want to grow a moisture loving plant in a normally dry garden. such as around the margins of a tub pond. This is my solution for doing so...

As you can see, these plastic pots do not have holes in the base although there are thin areas of plastic to enable the owner to make some. In my case I want the bottom third of the pot to retain moisture so I have made holes around the pot middle to hold this level of water below the holes.

This should provide a permanently damp substrate for moisture loving plants, such as pond marginals. Of course the pots will require watering but not as frequently as when the plants are growing in a free draining soil.

In this case, I have purchased a Sisyrinchium californicum from the nursery, it was planted in a marginal pond basket. As can be seen when I removed the plant from the basket it freely split into two separate clumps. These were planted into the pots giving them room to grow, They will make a nice display next to my tub pond.

Plant Label front.

Plant Label rear.

Invertebrate aquarium update.

This is a one month update of my invertebrate aquarium. I have been dosing with Easy-Life EasyCarbo each day and also used Easy-Life Profito fertiliser each week. 

The leaves of the plants were still quite yellow, so I have added some Easy-Life Ferro (iron) top-up to the aquarium as well. 

The plants are now starting to develop new growth. The Vallisneria spiralis in particular like the new conditions and there are now nine plantlets. I read the plant prefers hard water which is what my mains supply is. I have also added an established Rotala indica plant to the aquarium.

Stand Painted with Primer

The new stand is now primed with first coat of wood primer. The next paint coats will be satin finish in "Slate" grey.

Aquarium stand update

The Aquarium stand has now been "boxed in", and doors have been built and added to the front.

Gaps have been made in the top and bottom of the rear panel to allow cable and pipes to pass through to the aquarium. I will add a shelf if I decide to use an external filter.

Screw holes will now be filled and the stand will be painted.

Emmersed Plant growing experiment

Experimenting with Emmersed growing, I believe the plants are  Sagittaria subulata and a Cryptocorne. Substrate is a layer of gravel capped with plastic mesh then a course mixture of house plant compost with Orchid compost. Currently outside where the temperature is 20 C.

12-August-2017

Update. The plants survived but did not put on any fresh growth, so I moved them into an aquarium in the green house and they seem to be doing OK. The substrate mix I used became pretty smelly from the decay. It seem it is recommended that some Activated charcoal is added to the mix to absorb some of the volatiles produced by the decay process.

Pond update 2

I have added the window aquarium White Cloud Mountain Minnow to the outside pond. 

They were in the house, but the temperature was in the high 20's degC in the aquarium, so having seen that the original minnow are doing fine in the pond, I decided to add these to them.

I have also added an air-stone in the pond while it is so hot, to help ensure there is adequate dissolved oxygen. I think the toad and frog residents will be very grateful for the pond, the temperature has been in the 30's today.

Summer Tub Pond update

This is an update picture of my summer garden tub water feature. It has an external home-made filter box containing several layers of filter foam. A 400 litres per hour pump circulates water from the tub to the filter box and, after passing through the foam, it returns to the pond.

The pond also contains a tiny fountain pump that comes in with a timer to help oxygenate the water.

I have added six small White Cloud Mountain Minnow to the pond and they seem to be happy at the moment. They are classed as 'temperate' fish and can live in water down to 11 deg C.

The plants in the grey pots are 'marginal' plants that like a very moist soil. I have added drainage holes halfway up the sides of  the pot to maintain a water source in the base of the pots.

A mixture of ground cover and alpine plants have been planted around the pond.

It is surprising how a water feature can attract wildlife to the garden. We have already notice Damsel flies perching on the plants around the pond. We also have evening visits from a Toad, which is great.

16th June 2017.

I have just checked the pond this morning and was surprised to see a Toad and a Frog have moved into the pond. They are full grown ones. I wasn't aware they were resident in our garden.

(photos are stock images)

Mini pond water test. WCMM?

I tested the parameters of the mini pond today...

Temperature @ 09:00 = 16 deg. C (60.8 deg. F)
Temperature @15:00 = 20 deg. C (68 deg F)

PH = 7.6
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0

I see Rachel O'leary has just added temperate fish to her outdoor tubs for the Summer,
https://youtu.be/ZkuopVgaIZE , so I am tempted to try some White Cloud Mountain Minnow in mine.

Has any of my readers tried this on the UK?