Pond Building Part 2

After a little bit of tinkering and adjusting, we have now planted up the pond, here is a list of the plants, anti-clockwise from bottom right of the picture . 

1. Trollius - globe flower
2. Nymphaea candida - water lily
3. Mental aquatica - water mint
4. Veronica beccabunga - Brooklime
5. Pontederia cordata-pickerel plant
6. Unl
7. Mares tail oxygenator (no label) 

Pond building

 This year has been one of projects.  We decided to try a pond, starting with a couple of low tech bowl ponds.

 While these were successful in attracting insects and frogs, the nearby vegetation caused problems and we then decided to embark on a bigger pond.

 Here it is largely dug out, we put it in an area which had been full of nettles which we killed and dug out.

We have used pondliner, a cheap and adaptable way to create a pond. It is part filled, so the next step is to move in some plants, especially oxygenating plants so the newts, toads and frogs can breed next year.

April 2017

 We're in the season of cherry blossom.

 The plum tree has been flowering well too.

 Dwarf narcissi have been spectacular.

 More plum blossom.

 On the veg plot, our reconstruction and clearing efforts have resulted in a new herb bed and two much larger beds bordered by new paths all around. The compost bins have been moved to a shaded spot behind the camera in this photo.

 As an example of what this clearance work involves, here is a before and after pic of an area containing self seeded raspberries and nettles.  The nettles will be finally cleared with weedkiller.

 Digging out raspberries on a steep slope is not recommended!

The Robin enjoyed our efforts with lots of food provided for him.  Next week will be planting week.

Starting 2017

 After a relatively warm and dry winter, spring is now gathering pace.  My crocuses have been magnificent this year.

 Miniature daffodils and narcissus.

 The major remodelling on the vegetable plot is mostly finished, but more serious work to come.  This larg area has been changed with beds moved and the path relaid further down the slope (you can just see the imprint of the old path to the right), away from the apple trees which had grown so much they prevented walking along the path.  This slope can get very wet in periods of heavy rain which we had while building so it will need relaying again once it has settled, as it looks a little bit wobbly  

The winter jobs are all done now, the raspberries and other soft fruit pruned and the new loganberry shoots tied on for this year.  The broad beans, onion and garlic are all in, so now the priority is to weed and prepare beds for the year with compost and manure.

Jerusalem Artichokes

Today I dug up about half the Jerusalem artichokes,  some are huge and there are several pounds worth. Nice for a winter soup.  Easy to grow,  even in damp clay,  the only problem with them is they are thuggish and move to grow where they want to,  not necessarily where you want them.  I have already moved some to a new part of the plot,  so the rest have to come up.