April was a very busy month thanks to some extremely good weather, which had the unfortunate side effect of making everything very dry.  We started off with needing to fix the sides of the pond.  Although we had tried to secure the edges of the liner in the Autumn, these had come loose over the winter and we had seen some water loss.

This was a huge task, involving digging a trench all around the pond and burying the liner edge.  This took us 3-4 days to complete, partly by hand and partly with the aid of a mini-digger.

As we worked our way around the edge, we were able to start planting – a real boost to morale when you’ve spent most of the day shovelling mud!  We started with some Arum Lilies we had been gifted, which rewarded us within 2 weeks by flowering beautifully (select the gallery on the right to see some pictures!)

We added some water plants to the pond including some bulrushes, marsh marigold and oxygenating weed.  We were so excited to see our first pair of ducks and we think they have now taken up residence, although they tend to leave when we are present and working.

We continued planting around the pond with cotinus, heucheras, and hemp agrimony, among others.  We will keep adding to the planting as time allows!