"Davy" wrote in message
...
So Koi-Lo strongly recommends against planting straight into gravel/soil
because the roots become matted and the whole substrate needs to be taken
up
when doing the plant maintenance; whilst Sean McKinney says it is not a
problem (but doesn't elaborate on why it is not a problem).

Perhaps he and I used different plants. We had one section about 12' long
that was a solid smelly, mulm filled, very heavy strip of plants that were a
real problem to remove. We had to be careful not to cut into the liner as
we tried to cut them into manageable sections. We both said "Never again!"

Any other views on the basket/earth issue for wildlife ponds? At the
moment
I am leaning to planting in gravel because a new 16 sq m pond will need a
lot of baskets (?) and because baskets might make the planting not look
too
formal (?).

If you don't plan to ever cleaning out your pond or having to cull out
excess fish and plants, then go for it! :-)
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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