Underlay

Of all the small-scale habitats you could create in a garden, ponds are probably the most effective at bringing in extra wildlife. Having now gathered a sufficient supply of newspapers and old carpets, my husband was at last ready to begin constructing a variety of shelves which the ponds would need to support aquatic plants.

The shallowest shelf would be about a foot in depth to hold marginal plants such as water forget-me-not, marsh marigolds, veronica and monkeyflower. The second shelf would gradually slope down to about two feet in depth, and would support emergent plants such as irises, arrowhead, bogbean, and flowering rush. The deepest shelf would be about a metre in depth and would support the water-lilies. Oxygenating plants would be placed throughout the ponds.

With the radio for company, my husband beavered away for days on end at the shelving, till it was sufficiently strong enough to support plants. Then, following the information in the guide book from the library, he began to cover the whole area of the ponds in newspapers and then carpets. These were to prevent sharp stones and fragments of glass coming through the soil and piercing the butyl liner, which was to arrive within days.