View Single Post
  #5   Report Post  
Old 15-10-2009, 10:23 AM
blobby blobby is offline
Registered User
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Oct 2009
Posts: 3
Smile

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodney Pont[_2_] View Post



It's very individual and really it's what you like. I like some of the
grasses that have black bands but you have to put them in a the right
depth.

Is there room on the surface for another water lily? You are restricted
in what you can get since your pond is fairly shallow. The depth on the
water lilies ticket is the distance from the top of the compost to the
surface and not the depth of the pond. It's the length of the stalks
really and if you put a deep one in a shallow pond the leaves and
flowers stretch a long way and don't look right to me.

I would forget the filter side and add more plants. The more of the
surface you cover the better from the point of view of clear water. I
don't think anything much is going to happen at this end of the year
but you can pop another illy in to help next year. In a plant only pond
the lilly will need fertilizing but get a tab to stick in the compost
so that it doesn't feed the algae.

If you get green water next year I'd bung in some watercress from the
supermarket (for instance). It will grow rapidly and remove the
nutrients and cover the water. Don't let it get out of hand though,
keep pulling it out and composting it and just throw a few shoots back
in. Once you have enough plants established you won't need to do that
any more.


Cheers Rodney. I will add more plants and see what happens next year. I would like to see some clear water, so I may not try to cover the whole surface. Maybe I'll try some grasses.
Thanks again fro your help

Rick