Adding Rocks And Plants

After about a week, the fly larvae were doing well and a snail appeared, working its way round the edges of the pond liner. I had already added a couple of small rocks and a small fern that I had found in my garden, but it was still looking a little sparce. Further rummaging around the garden turned up some additional plants, like wild strawberry and moss. Plus a visit to my Mum and Dad's where I scrounged a variegated ivy, heather and couple of other little plants. One of which was a nice trailing plant, with a yellow flower, that they had around their pond.

I placed the majority of these plants on the perimeter of the pond liner directly into the soil, then covered over with the pea gravel. And a few required me to cut the pond liner (Well above the water line of course), so as to insert the plant roots into the soil beneath the liner. Again covering over with the pea gravel. Although still quite small, once these plants matured they would start to fill up more space around the pond, creating havens for spiders and other insects, whilst also providing shelter for the pond.

I also managed to locate some extra rocks of varying shapes and sizes, which I placed around the pond to cover up some of the rubber liner, making it look more natural. I still have a bit to go with the rocks, but will add more as I source them. I will no doubt move the rocks around, as I get more, making it look as natural as possible and creating little nooks and crannies for more plants and places for the insects and amphibians to explore or hide.

One of the only plants we purchased was the deep red water lilly (Nymphaea leydekeri Fulgens). And our local pond specialist, Claremont Aquatics commented that it already had a flower forming. Well the flower has now opened up, looks great in the middle of the pond and is already attracting hover flies. Its great watching the new red leaves (lilly pads) form under the water, which then work their way to surface.

Shortly after adding the plants, we started to notice the arrival of more insects like ants, spiders and beetles. This will be great, if and when, we ever get a frog visiting our pond. The kids are also spending time now pond dipping with a small net and a white bowl, which allows us to have a closer look at what is in our pond.

Its amazing how small some of the creatures are, which we would never had known were in there had we not pond dipped. We have already started to notice some very tiny green specs that seem to swim around at fairly high speed. Along with varying species of wiggly things, which I have since learnt are collectively known as "wigglies".