Path

Everything ready

I love it when a plan comes together!

Not a bad little worker when she puts her mind to it ;-)

No, the flint at the end of the path is shaped like a heart, not a map of Australia.

Now, what to grow in this new bed?

Work in progress - path, paving, lawn edging

Path excavation

Lawn edging will slot in here.
(The turf to the left will be replaced with a herbaceous border.)

Marking-out extension to paving under pergola

Paving extended to pond edge.
Pond dipping, anyone?

Decking ramp removed, infilled with slabs.
Also added some extra slabs down side of raised bed.
(The small area of turf will be replaced by plants, maybe a bog garden.)

Onions

This year's onion crop

Ragged Robin

Ragged Robin putting on a nice show. Had expected the usual pink variety but white is nice.

Pond water level getting quite low. Apparently there's already talk of a hosepipe ban.

Spring blossom

Some of the new trees are looking stunning:

Plum

Apple (and blackcurrant)

Pond plants

Found a good source of pond plants. David Kerr of Devon Pond Plants is very helpful and his prices are competitive. Here's what we bought:

Marsh

• Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) x 1
• Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) x 1
• Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) x 3
• Snakeshead (Fritillaria meleagris) x 3

Marginal plants (0-150mm deep)

• Water mint (Mentha aquatica) x 1
• Water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) x 1
• Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) x 1
• Water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides) x 1
• Lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) x 1

Emergent (deeper water)

• Bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) x 1
• Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) x 3

Floating leaved and bottom rooted

• Amphibious bistort (Polygonum amphibium) x 1
• Fringed waterlily (Nymphoides peltata) x 1
• Water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis) x 6

Oxygenators

• Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) x 6
• Water starwort (Callitriche Spp) x 3

This is in addition to some native flag iris (Iris Pseudoacorus) and mystery pond weed I brought back from my mum's two weeks ago.

The Snakeshead Fritillary, complete with flowers, came through the post in perfect condition!

Tree planting

Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus Crimson Cloud)

Opal Plum Tree (Prunus Opal)

Apple tree, blueberries, wild flowers

Pond gradually filling up in the Spring showers

Nice weather for ducks

Sandwiched the liner between two pieces of protective fleece.

Yes, that's snow on the liner. Yes, those are Marigold washing-up gloves.

Emptied the contents of two water-butts into the pond while easing the liner into place.

Not too much excess to trim.

The online pond-liner size calculators seem to yield very inflated figures. I recommend trailing a piece of string across the longest/deepest cross section and adding 0.5m, width and length.

Some progess on a nice dry weekend

Pegs round the perimeter help check the levels.

We'll use sieved soil as a stone-free buffer between the pond liner and the rock/turf edging. Heather doing a splendid job, whilst listening to a whodunit to relieve the boredom.

Finished off the planter with some edging. Just need to top-up with compost and it'll be ready for planting.

Rocks

Thanks to Beeston FREE-recycle and the Jenkins' of Wollaton, scored some nice local sandstone rocks today. This is two car loads. Probably need two or three more loads (only half the pond needs edging), but will have to see how my back feels tomorrow!