What material are the greenhouse benches made out of? Another thing I'm
considering that someone on this newsgroup had done is "walling off" one
edge of the pond with bricks or stone and putting most of tall plants in
that area--I won't have to net that section since the fish will be on the
other side...only problem I've run into is finding a real type of brick that
doesn't contain lime (all the "brick" and stone carried at Home Depot
contains
materials that will leach lime into the water--according to the
manufacturers who told me not to use them in my pond)

"Stephen M. Henning" wrote in message
news
"k conover" wrote:

Maybe it's a stupid question--you either have netting or plants in the
pond, but not both?

A well designed pond can easily have both plants and fish and no
netting. The sides must be vertical so the herons can't stand on the
side and eat fish. You need shallow places for the plants, but they
don't have to be near the edge. You need protective outcroppings where
the fish can hide.

I accomplish this by having vertical walls where the water depth is a
minimum of 24". Then the marginal plants are planted on submerged
greenhouse benches that are covered with pots and baskets. The fish and
resident snake can hide under the benches. The oxygenators, submerged
plants and water lilies are no problem.

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