Wildlife pond advice needed

[TulipJ]

(Reposted from new shoots but I thought it may belong here too. )

I am currently in the process of setting up my small pond. It's a Bermuda cove preformed one ( 84cm/64cm. Its sited in a sunny/shaded spot come late afternoon., we started it last week ( could only put tap water in) and already it's gone a bit green and a few bubbles on top of the green bit.

The max depth is 30cm In the middle. I have two marginal plants. ( can't remember names sorry but one has tall reeds and the other is sporting pretty delicate white flowers.

I have also just bought a floating plant 'nymphaea pygmaea (red Pygmy) water Lilly and for the oxygenators I have a bunch (10) of 'elodea crispa and a starwort plant. (Still to arrive this week )There are also 2 water cress stems floating in it that my husband put in.
I'm wondering if this is enough for my little wildlife pond and also how do I plant the aquatic plants? I have some pond baskets and 3 hessian squares. I'm guessing that I need to buy aquatic compost? I have a bag of small pebbles in the shed. Will they be ok to weigh the soil down?

Apologies for all the questions but I'm v new to gardening and I really want to get my pond balanced out so hopefully the frogs will approve of it Any tips would be gratefully received.

[Figgy-Cat]

Hi TulipJ

I have a similar wildlife pond but mine is the Bermuda Sands Preformed one. I started off by putting elodea crispa in too along with some other oxygenators and marginal plants. I left my plants in pots of aquatic compost with a layer of pebbles on the top. That seemed to work for me.

You can see some photos of my Wildlife Pond Project at: Wildlife Pond Project 2 - a set on Flickr

Good luck with your pond and don't forget to share some photos.

Kind Regards

Ian

[Two_Sheds]

I'm guessing that I need to buy aquatic compost?

Yes, it needs to be very low nutrient, because if you use ordinary garden compost the additional nutrients in it will lead to green algal growth in your pond

Troubleshooting in the garden pond

[ancee]

Your photos are fab TulipJ!!! How did you get the tadpoles? Did the frogs just find you? I also like the idea you've had of putting a pebble ramp so that the frogs can get in and out, and there was me thinking of getting a little ladder!!

[ancee]

Sorry! I just realised the photos are yours Figgy-Cat!!!