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Pebble pond in raised planter

pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
in Garden design
Hi,
I'm new to gardening and forums but I hope people in here can give me some advise on both ☺
I am building a raised pond and will be building a planter with waterfall on the back of it (similar to the photo). My idea is to have that whole planter as the reservoir for the waterfall into the main pond, with the water being pumped on to a pebble bed, running into the planter which I hope to have some nice plants in gravel.
My concern is that the subbase/soil for the plants will make the water dirty and make the main waterfall and pond dirty. 

Has anyone got or done something like this, that would like to share advise on how to go about it? Or should I just keep it simple and pump into the waterfall reservoir and keep the planter as a dry bed?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.
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Posts

  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9

    Aha! Sorry, here is the photo.
  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
    😊 yes, that's right.
  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
    All of the above! 😁
    A few fish, some nice water lillies, and some nice shallow water pond plants in the planter with the waterfall.
  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
    The planter will be lined with underlay and 0.75mm PVC. My question is can I just fill the base with a sub-base and cover with gravel and plant straight into that? 
  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
    I appreciate your offer of help, but I have no issue with the main pond, I am looking info on the best way forward for the 'flooded' planter. 
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I can't really tell from the picture what the plants in the upper level are.  If that's the planter that you want to fill with water, then you will need to choose aquatic plants and they will need to be planted either in soil in the base of the planter or in aquatic compost in those basket-like aquatic pots (a layer of gravel on top is supposed to stop the soil being disturbed by fish etc). Different plants need to be in different depths of water, so take that into account as well.  Also bear in mind that some aquatic plants prefer still water.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
    JennyJ said:
    I can't really tell from the picture what the plants in the upper level are.  If that's the planter that you want to fill with water, then you will need to choose aquatic plants and they will need to be planted either in soil in the base of the planter or in aquatic compost in those basket-like aquatic pots (a layer of gravel on top is supposed to stop the soil being disturbed by fish etc). Different plants need to be in different depths of water, so take that into account as well.  Also bear in mind that some aquatic plants prefer still water.
    Thank you JennyJ, very helpful tips. 
    So, if I put a base of aquatic compost, plant into that and cover with gravel, the water should stay clear and not end up muddy.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I don't know, I've only ever seen the gravel used with the basket pots (friend of mine swears by it but won't plant directly into the bottom of her pond because she reckons the liner could get damaged by roots growing through it, but I don't know whether she's right or not).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • pgamwellpgamwell Posts: 9
    In the main pond I think I'll keep them in basket pots, but i was thinking of planting into the planter, however, I could leave them in their pots just buried below the gravel. Food for thought 👍
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    edited April 2019
    Most Pond plants will grow happily in pretty much any substrata, in baskets or equally happy just straight into the silt that inevitably settles in the bottom. The main reason for baskets is to keep them from getting too out of control. I wouldn’t worry about the planter making the pond water dirty, presuming you don’t have a torrent of water gushing through it, the soil will settle itself down after a day or two, even if to begin with some comes through for the top to the bottom. It will eventually settle on the bottom somewhere once any rogue stuff has been though the system a couple of times 
    I think filling it with gravel will work fine and will actually act as a filter more than anything so will actually clean the water, and many plants will grow happily in that
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