Hi @Lucid and @Guernsey Donkey2 "I really like the sound of those coir mats but are they a permanent solution - will the plants eventually establish into the soil underneath etc? And what about the ones that sit over liner and not in the water? If the coir eventually rots down, where do they root to? Obviously we'd need to remove the rocks from the back of the pond area, but they're not fixed down so that's not a problem. The area is blasted by full sun in the summer so gets quite dry, would that be an issue?"
All good questions! The coir takes a long time to completely rot down - up to 10 years - and continues to provide a growing medium, even when it has completely rotted. By that stage the root systems give the mats all the structure they need, is the idea. The plants root into soil underneath, or if the mats are sitting on the liner they will just use the coir to grow into. Some will raft out into the pond, and leaves and detritus add to the coir. The growers say ideally the mats need around 25% at or below the mean water level. The water wicks up through the coir, so that's not mission critical. It does mean that for a wildlife pond with shallow sides they can dry out in summer, but this doesn't seem to be too much of an issue, certainly with our pond. The plants tend to march down to the water and find their own level. TBH the only drawback can be the cost. They're palletised, so if you only want a couple they work out pretty expensive.
Hi Folks ..... I really like the look of the planted coir matting.
I will be making a pond as part of a bog garden / osier project I want to create in our garden.... hopefully later this summer.
I was thinking about trying a diy approach as I have a large, old coir mat that I could use. I might try growing some small plugs of things like mimulus and water avens .... the mat is very loose weave so it would be easy enough to fill the gaps with soil and poke some small plugs and seeds into it.
Do you think this would work?
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
These pictures of my pond are from last summer. I laid some turf in the garden and had a couple of pieces spare . I decided to see what would happen if I just rolled them into the water. You can see one piece with a stone on top of it in the water .For this piece I put some play sand in the pond as a base and rolled the turf on top. The other piece, which is next to the white stone, I literally just rolled the turf over the liner and into the water.
In the picture they are about a month old and they've both grown absolutely fine.
The piece with the stone on top, however, has this capillary action going on and it's such water into the surrounding turf .I am going to have to remove this one, or at least separate it from the actual lawn.
The other piece seems fine though and is growing well on its own without causing a problem for the surrounding lawn.
Birds love them both. Frogs hide in the gap between the turf and the liner.
Hi @Lucid and @Guernsey Donkey2 "I really like the sound of those coir mats but are they a permanent solution - will the plants eventually establish into the soil underneath etc? And what about the ones that sit over liner and not in the water? If the coir eventually rots down, where do they root to? Obviously we'd need to remove the rocks from the back of the pond area, but they're not fixed down so that's not a problem. The area is blasted by full sun in the summer so gets quite dry, would that be an issue?"
All good questions! The coir takes a long time to completely rot down - up to 10 years - and continues to provide a growing medium, even when it has completely rotted. By that stage the root systems give the mats all the structure they need, is the idea. The plants root into soil underneath, or if the mats are sitting on the liner they will just use the coir to grow into. Some will raft out into the pond, and leaves and detritus add to the coir. The growers say ideally the mats need around 25% at or below the mean water level. The water wicks up through the coir, so that's not mission critical. It does mean that for a wildlife pond with shallow sides they can dry out in summer, but this doesn't seem to be too much of an issue, certainly with our pond. The plants tend to march down to the water and find their own level. TBH the only drawback can be the cost. They're palletised, so if you only want a couple they work out pretty expensive.
Thanks for your informative reply @Habitat_Aid and I'm sorry for my delayed reply. That sounds brilliant - I think we'll definitely look in to this to solve our back of pond issue (price dependent), but it sounds like it'll help out our situation very well.
@GrassyKnoll Love your ponds. They look so natural. Well done. Would love one myself but don't think it will ever happen as so much else to do in the meantime.
Update on pond: have got some plants beginning to grow - and have bought some pebble and rocks to make the beach end. Also got a lots of pebbles from the garden - have a small beach by my shed too! Still making decisions about edging and what to plant around and behind the pond... any suggestions gratefully received!
@MissM I think creeping Jenny is a good edging option, comes as green and golden carieties. Secret gardening club has gold variety in stock now 😊 aka Lysimachia nummularia... And is evergreen 😊
Posts
All good questions! The coir takes a long time to completely rot down - up to 10 years - and continues to provide a growing medium, even when it has completely rotted. By that stage the root systems give the mats all the structure they need, is the idea. The plants root into soil underneath, or if the mats are sitting on the liner they will just use the coir to grow into. Some will raft out into the pond, and leaves and detritus add to the coir. The growers say ideally the mats need around 25% at or below the mean water level. The water wicks up through the coir, so that's not mission critical. It does mean that for a wildlife pond with shallow sides they can dry out in summer, but this doesn't seem to be too much of an issue, certainly with our pond. The plants tend to march down to the water and find their own level. TBH the only drawback can be the cost. They're palletised, so if you only want a couple they work out pretty expensive.
I will be making a pond as part of a bog garden / osier project I want to create in our garden.... hopefully later this summer.
I was thinking about trying a diy approach as I have a large, old coir mat that I could use. I might try growing some small plugs of things like mimulus and water avens .... the mat is very loose weave so it would be easy enough to fill the gaps with soil and poke some small plugs and seeds into it.
Do you think this would work?
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
You can see one piece with a stone on top of it in the water .For this piece I put some play sand in the pond as a base and rolled the turf on top. The other piece, which is next to the white stone, I literally just rolled the turf over the liner and into the water.
In the picture they are about a month old and they've both grown absolutely fine.
The piece with the stone on top, however, has this capillary action going on and it's such water into the surrounding turf .I am going to have to remove this one, or at least separate it from the actual lawn.
The other piece seems fine though and is growing well on its own without causing a problem for the surrounding lawn.
Birds love them both. Frogs hide in the gap between the turf and the liner.
The only other issue is cutting it .
Lucid