What is the best way to plant a shelf?

[freeskier]

I was hoping to get some advice for planting marginal plants on the shelf of my pond. I am tired of using plastic baskets that get knocked over in the wind.

Would it work if I filled the shelf with pea gravel and planted directly in this? I would be concerned about cleaning and losing gravel into the pond. Any other suggestions?

 

[Dr Joe]

How about concrete pots w/drain holes, treated w/DryLock & filled with gravel?

Dr Joe

.

 

[Muske]

The pea gravel will work just fine. If you can creat a bowl out of small boulders, say base to softball size, fioll it with gravel and your plant. All of my plants are directly planted into the pond. Both in deep water and at the shelves.
This is a pic. showing a shelf that is planted. I made pockets in the soil behind the liner b4 putting in the water, but making a pocket w/rocks will do the same for you if you can't excavate under the liner. I will take some pics. this week showing more shelves in my pond.

 

[freeskier]

The pea gravel will work just fine. If you can creat a bowl out of small boulders, say base to softball size, fioll it with gravel and your plant. All of my plants are directly planted into the pond. Both in deep water and at the shelves. View attachment 194688
This is a pic. showing a shelf that is planted. I made pockets in the soil behind the liner b4 putting in the water, but making a pocket w/rocks will do the same for you if you can't excavate under the liner. I will take some pics. this week showing more shelves in my pond.

thanks for the advice. do you put larger rocks towards the edge to keep the gravel from spilling over? pics would be really helpful for ideas.

 

[Muske]

Larger rocks do form a barrier to keep smaller rocks/gravel from falling off the shelves. The biggest rocks are at the bottom (12"+) then smaller going up. The size of the shelf determines the size of rocks used. Here are some old pics. The cam. batteries are dead. Will get some other pics. soon.

This kinda shows a shelf in the background.

This pic. shows the various shelves. The vertical faces get the biggest rocks, starting in the bottom. Fill in around them w/gravel. Some of the shelves are only 6-8" tall. Those will get rock 10-12" tall to go above the rim of the shelve, creating a bowl for the plant and move gravel.

 

[Muske]

The white paint in the second pic is where small depressions or pockets are dug prior to the underlayment and liner install. These pockets are only a few inches deep and allow for plants to be directly planted into the gravel, and not have any unsightly pots in the pond. This method works for lillies as well. In the deeper sections, do the same. Excavate a pocket, (wider is better than deep for lilies, since it encourages the roots to spread out.) place lily in and backfill w/gravel.