Back Garden: Progress round the pond

This is how the area round the pond was when we first moved in:

This has been a major project this yr. We had filled the pond with water before we got our water meter fitted (well worth considering). This was a Coy Carp pond to the previous owners, we want it to be a nature pond, and we have lots of plans for how to make it our perfect water feature, but as with everything else these plans take a while to come to fruition, not helped by the huge quantity of rain which we have had this year.

This pond does have potential though and had been well fitted, which was a blessing. so when we did initially fill it up we knew it would stay that way. And it did for 6 months/ 1 year with nothing more down, but I have this year been sorting out the patio area in general and quite a vast improvement has taken place.

I started in May by added these vegetable wicker planters - which have been fantastic all year:

The were from Robert Dyas and cost around £16 each - they really are just perfect for this space.

Then I started painting the fence, which carried on through out the year and progressed gradually round the pond:

Also put up trellising at the back of the pond and bought some Passion Flowers from Morrisons, which were on offer for under £2! Hopefully they will now survive the winter and come back strong as the weather warms up next year. I can see that at least one of the two I planted seems to be surviving so far.

It's well worth keep your eye out for supermarket plant offers, you can get all sorts of treasures so cheap and I do feel like I'm kind of rescuing plants I buy from supermarkets, as they sadly aren't usually looked after very well.

I then re-did the wheelbarrow, this was originally left at the bottom of the garden rusty and filled with burnt out rubbish, I took it and planted it up and painted it and it is so so lovely and makes such a nice feature on the patio, and planted it up with some plug plant fuchsias which I had bought earlier in the year, they are still thriving even now in December!

I also reorganised the planters and then found a set of two beer barrel planters on Robert Dyas along with a solid wood patio set and 6 seats for under £200. This just transformed the space:

The finished effect of all these changes:

 The parasol and stand were found in a charity shop for around £15-£20 years ago and are gorgeously solid and go perfectly with the rest of the colour scheme

 I decided to put up a bird feeder by the pond and they love it there, next thing to do is put up a nesting box round that area too....

 This bug box was a house-warming gift from my friend Mary and hopefully will attract the right kind of bugs to keep my vegetables safe from pests and pollinated in years to come

I'm just so pleased with the over all result. Well worth all the hard work.