Pond Project with pics. Planting suggestions?

We've always talked of doing this.... so a couple of weeks ago in the dry weather my son made a start with the digger.

This is the site as he was starting:


Then over the course of several days it increased in size:


It started to fill with water - which in that warm weather just "needed" to be tested:


At the end of last weekend it looked like this:


View from other end on same day:


A bit more  has been dug out, but I've no pictures from yesterday's activity yet.

The plan is to spread the dug stuff out over the thin soil of the surrounding field (rock close under) and to spread the more black shucky stuff on top.... and hopefully to plant some of my apple pip treelets into that.  Probably, will need to add some sand, forked into the base of the planting hole to help with drainage as the clay is well clayey!

So any other suggestions?

It's difficult to make suggestions without knowing where you are, or what climate you have.  Zone?

Oops...

Of course.  N.Ireland - wet and mild.  Not sure what zone that equates to in USA terms.

Here's an article a bout edible pond and bog plants:  http://www.pfaf.org/user/cmspage.aspx?pageid=79

Thanks for that link.  I haven't been to the pfaf site lately and so didn't know that that article existed.  Off to read it now. 

For reference, here's a USDA equivalent zone map for Ireland:

Okay so I'm just south of Belfast.  Zone 9

Which puts you in the same zone as me, Salkeela! 

It only refers to the minimum winter temperatures though - not everything that grows on my place will grow in yours, or vice versa.  With the rather strange exception of the Madronho/Irish Strawberry Tree... 

By that chart we had a zone 7 winter this winter.  Loads of plants died that usually survive.  I had an Escalonia hedge that I planted about 10 years ago die - every single plant of it!  Previously they all lived through the winter.

In Belfast all the gardens that had palm trees now have dead sticks. 

We did have a very unusual winter though.  First time that I recall that all the water drinkers for the fields froze in the ground.  We used to break the ice on the drinkers, but have never had to set up a whole alternative drinking system for the field before.  Basically the hose pipe lived in the house for a couple of months, because left outsided it froze.  (Okay so we thawed it a few times in the shower before we realised the cold snap was gonna stay!)

Normally we are fairly mild all year.  Mild and wet.  Thankfully we don't usually get the scorching hot summers.....

Now- Irish Strawberry tree?  I think I'll have to see if I can find one of those?  What are they?

Strawberry Tree:  http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Arbutus%20unedo

Ah you were quicker than me!

I found this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3345583/Strawberry-tree-How-to-grow.html

I gather you can turn it into something alcoholic too....

on my blog in the plant listing I have a listing of the plants I ordered for my pond from Trickers..my lotus have come and have leaves on the surface but the rest will come in 2 weeks

I have also hardy water lilies and some other marginals that i put in a few years ago like arrowheads, as well as the cattails that came on their own..

if you go to the two pond pages on my blog you can see the work from early on to pictures I took last week..lilies weren't leafing yet but are now..

I have goldfish but hope to put in other fish someday and I have lots of frogs, turtles, etc..

Salkeela, will that water stay in your pond do you think?  Or do you intend to try to seal it in some way?

Willy_K wrote:
Salkeela, will that water stay in your pond do you think?  Or do you intend to try to seal it in some way?

The water will stay.  We are in rainy N.Ireland.  Even in dry spells the spring that feeds this pond still runs and the shuck above the pond never dries out.

I doubt we could get all the water out now in order to "seal" it.... LOL!  The undersoil is boulder clay and naturally sealed I think.  Either that or the water table is that high already......  If it drys up over the summer I'll be really surprised!

Brenda Groth wrote:
if you go to the two pond pages on my blog you can see the work from early on to pictures I took last week..lilies weren't leafing yet but are now..

Wow!  Brilliant "pond".  Much more space than ours and just oosing with potential!  Thanks for the suggestions and I look forward to following the progress of your pond......