Hello to all

Hello all, first post for me (obviously).
I've checked over a few forums and decided to set up shop here.
I'm gonna need some advice on my 5.5m wide by 20m length of garden. I'm looking at attracting wildlife and growing veg mainly.

 

Hello there and welcome to the forum.

Secondly I have to say it's awesome to have someone who wants to feed wildlife and plant veggies instead of conifer trees.

But if we are to help you, a few more Infos would be nice. Do you have pictures of the piece of land you want to make into a garden? From what side does the sun come in? And what specifically do you want to plant?

 

Hello @Coffee and welcome to the GC forums.
I grow plants for wildlife also.

 

Welcome Coffee to Gardener Corner. You will find a lot of people grow plants for the wildlife and certain plants we have are for bees in particular, we don't get mozzies in this place like we did in our UK property,they were like a plague at times because of the high water table...so here we can have ponds and lots of water butts as our roof is vast. We get a lot of toads here and have a lone baby one at the moment,making a home under a large seed tray. Shame, never seen a frog here...not a pun ....Your'll find your way around no doubt, although I still get lost as a newby.

 

Thx to all that have replied.. as a couple of you have mentioned mosquitoes.... What do or did you do to keep them at bay? I don't want to use chemicals btw.

 

Nice looking pond... Mine didn't look anything like that... I did have some pong skippers/skaters in it. I think the algae killed them off tho... Linked pics of mine looking at its best.

 

Could add some rocks or something else you like perhaps around the right side which is more open in your photos. We added some to ours , well a lot actually, it is not so natural looking as it is part of a patio as well... it can give give planting a backdrop and a good exit for wildlife.
Two photos that might give you some ideas, although ours has gold fish in them...

 

Hello @Coffee and welcome to Gardeners Corner! (I love the name you’ve chosen, by the way!).

As @ARMANDII has said, your pond looks good, especially with the soft planting on one side. You have created a perfect hiding place for both birds and amphibians as they approach the water. Do you have a lot of problems with mozzies? We can have here (we are next to a marsh area, and in a wet summer the mozzie nets over the beds come into their own), but I don’t think that our pond is to blame. Encouraging wildlife means encouraging mozzie-eaters!

One plant that I heard was good at discouraging mosquitoes is Lemon balm. It can be a little invasive, so if you have good soil, I would recommend growing it in a pot, to contain its spread a little. Our soil tends to dampen most invasive plants’ enthusiasm. We have planted lemon balm next to our barrel water feature by the patio, and near the pond. The added advantage is that when we sit by the pond of an evening, the perfect garnish to our G&Ts is to hand!!

The only slight addition I would make to your pond is to maybe put a few stones or gravel on one section of the surround. These act as a heat-sump, and so help the amphibians in spring and autumn - a sort of warming pad for them. So if you have one side that gets the sun, maybe a few pieces of slate, or some skim-stones?
Siting a pond on a sloping garden
I’ve put the link to the thread on my pond, in case it is of interest to you. Here is a photo from last summer, where you can see the area of stones (in my case granite cobbles in the main).

 

Thx for all the replies, hints and tips so far.
(Sian, Armandi, Dianne. (Sorry don't know how to link names).

I'll look into lemon grass, as for my soil I don't know it it's good or bad, but I'm guessing it's it's on the good side tho as it has a good dark colour and has no clay.

My daughter had a sand pit she no longer used, I couldn't seem to shift it on selling sites, as I didn't want to bin it or couldn't give it away it sat there for a couple of year's waiting for me to have a idea for use. As I re-use, recycle where I can I got the idea for the pond after watching Gardner's world.
Pic enclosed of old sand pit with lid, you may see the shape now.

I planted some plants (4 types I think (don't ask me what the names are)) in the water last June. One didn't take, the floating ones did ok, till the first frost came then all sank and died, the other didn't do much but is still going today. Only thing left in pond is the grass like plant, duck weed and a bit of algae.

As for the pond it gets 6-8 hours a day sunlight in height of summer, it evaporates alot of water in height of summer. So will top this up this year with water butt water.

I will get some ferns as someone pointed out, they can grow big help shade and may help with evaporation. But I need some plants for the inside of the water I think.... Any ideas of low maintenance ones? Also may invest in a solar pump to help reduce algae, good idea?

I'll post a pic of what the pond looks like with brick's/stones without the wildflowers... I'll also post a pic of a plant I put in 3 locations around the pond to give it some colour although it's black I liked it.
I know it needed steps/rocks for wildlife to get in and out and I'm sure I haven't done it correctly... Pointers for the right direction on un-used bricks and slate in my garden to put around this pond would be appreciated.

 

Indeed @ARMANDII !! Let’s hear it for the much-neglected hoverflies! I remember last year how they descended, en mass, when we put out trays of chilli-plants that had aphids on them

If I understand correctly, I think the sandpit shell is the pond, so the water is very shallow, and will heat up rapidly, encouraging an algae bloom. I would look to plant marginal plants, as there will not be enough for deeper aquatic plants.

The floating water-hyacinths I think I saw in your photos are frost-tender, so you haven’t done anything wrong. We all loose them in the winter, unless we can bring them indoors.