Follow our hints and tips for planting up a basket with pond plants
A lot of people are not sure how or when to re-pot water plants; this video shows you how to plant up marginal plants and also explains why you have to use specialised products. We are planting 2 marginal plants into one basket to use later when we construct a pool in a barrel. The plants are Houttuinia and Cardamine which are already planted in 1 ltr pots and we plant them both into the same larger pot. Pond plants usually need re-potting every 2 – 3 years as they can become congested and reduce the amount of flowers they produce. Pond plants are essential to bring wildlife into your garden as they provide a safe have from predators and a breeding site.
First of all you need to use the correct pots; these are a mesh basket which allows for the free movement of the water around the plant roots. Next you need to line it with a piece of hessian; this is a natural product so not toxic to your pond life. You need the hessian to stop the aquatic compost from running out of the basket. Now you must use proper aquatic compost; this is low in nutrients and soil based so most naturally resembles the mud at the bottom of a pond into which the plant would naturally root. If you use an ordinary compost they often contain a lot of peat dust and this would turn your pond cloudy; they also contain too many nutrients. Too high a nutrient value in your pond can lead to an explosion of algal growth and this will take out all the oxygen which in turn will make a hostile environment for any aquatic life.
Line the basket with the hessian, trim to make it look neat after you have finished. Place some compost in the base of the basket, take out the plants from their original baskets and plant into the new basket, then all there is to do is fill in the gaps with compost. Once the basket is planted it needs a layer of aquatic gravel on the top; this is specifically designed to be toxin-free and safe for any pond life. Place a good centimetre over the whole surface of the basket; this stops the compost from washing out and also stops any aquatic life burrowing down and disturbing the roots of the plants.
Now all that’s left to do is trim off any excess hessian then lower it into the pond where the surface of the water is just above the surface of the basket.
