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You might have heard about the concept of turning garden lawned areas into 'mini wildflower meadows', where wildflowers are grown to help bees and butterflies. A great way to make your garden more wildlife friendly. Gardenis.co.uk already sells preformed ponds and wildlife pond liner pond kits that are popular, so I thought I'd create a new mini wetland kit, which can help create an area in your garden that resembles a small wetland. It includes

1 small preformed pond

1 medium preformed pond

1 4x3m pond liner

The two preformed ponds can be used to create deeper pools. The pond liner rather than be used to create a deeper pond can be placed in a hole of about 10cm with gravel, logs and rocks to create a shallow area. Alternatively the liner can be cut in half, with one half used for a shallow area, and the other to create a bog garden, by digging a hole of about 15cm deep, placing the liner in, then covering with soil, then plant pond marginal plants. The liner will help keep the soil marshy. Add a variety of native marginal and pond plants, and before long the mini wetland will attract aquatic insects, birds and possibly frogs, newts, toads and dragonflies. The kit can be ordered here;

https://gardenis.co.uk/collections/pond-water-features/products/mini-wetland-kit

Two things Gardenis.co.uk will NEVER sell is artifical plastic lawns and plastic plants. Both are terrible for the environment and nature. Firstly, at some point, all these lawns, or more accurately, plastic outdoor carpets, will end up in landfill and remain there for centuries, in contrast to real lawns, where the grass, if removed, just turns to compost. Secondly, they are a disaster for wildlife, which is under enough pressure from us humans. How can a blackbird get a worm from a plastic lawn, and where is the nectar for bees and butterflies on a plastic hanging basket? 

However, it is understandable that many people find lawns too much work, and especially if the homeowners are getting elderly or have mobility problems. However, there is some really nice natural alternatives to grass lawns that are great for nature, look lovely and are much lower maintenance than grass lawns. Plastic lawns are not cheap, and the money spent on covering your grass lawn area with one, could easily be spent on one of these options. Here is a summary - 

This article from the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57247757

is interesting, as this is something we have experienced. The timber products have had 2 prices rises this year from the supplier due to the increase in global demand for timber. This has unfortunately made the timber sheds and other garden products a lot more expensive.

Another recent development is the pond manufacturer has been having problems getting hold of the specific required plastic to make the preformed ponds, so currently the Large has gone out of stock, with only the medium  and small preformed ponds available, and these will probably become unavailable at some point when stock is depleted. If you were hoping to get a large pond, the main option is the plastic pond liner, or alternatively you could opt for 2 medium ponds, which is 400 litres, and combined just 20 litres less than the large pond, and just £5 extra, with no delivery sucharges to pay. These can be placed long ways to create a longer, narrow pond, or can be placed near each other as a double pool pond, with some pond edging plants, placed between them.

Hi Just a quick blog to let customers know it is now the very busy time of the year for garden products. Deliveries are going OK, if you ever need to contact, please do so either by phone or email via the contact page. If no one answers if you call please email and a reply will be sent to you ASAP.

Compared to last year things have greatly improved on the delivery front, water butts are being delivered within in most cases 2 to 4 weeks rather than 10! Delivery dates are added to orders when they are received and this sends an automated email to let you know.

If you want a 350 litre water butt, or composter please check delivery areas. If you live in Scotland, Wales, North England or South West England and want a 350 litre water butt the alternative is a 400 litre x 2 200 litre barrel kit, which is a similar price and can be delivered UK wide.

The solar water features became unavailable in the first lockdown of 2020 and remained so for all of the year, which was a great shame as they were always popular with customers.The good news is they are now available again. There is the following sizes available - 200 litre, 300 litre, 400 litre, 600 litre and 800 litre. All of them create a relaxing fountain in garden ponds, and have batteries that are charged by the sun during the day and can be used to work the pump at night. They also have LED illumination, which light up the fountain when it is dark. All can be viewed in the pond and water feature section.

If you order a product from gardenis.co.uk in March and then email a picture or short video clip 30 seconds to 2 minutes long of the product in place fully working or in place with your order details, that can be used on the product page as a customer image/video and on social media pages you can get a cashback refund of £5 for a photo and £10 for a video.

1. Do not feature any people in the photo.

2. The product image or video must be of the product in its finished state. eg. A medium preformed pond - the image / video should be of it in its hole with aquatic plants around it, not just a photo of it on the grass in your garden. A shed should be completed, not just in flat pack state on the patio.

Simply send your image or video to gardenis@outlook.com and once accepted, the cashback will be sent to you.

Dark now an hour later than Christmas Day, snowdrops beginning to emerge in the next couple of weeks, is an early sign the spring season is slowly approaching. All our amphibian friends; frogs, toads and newts will be looking out for a nice pond to lay some spawn and bring some cute little tadpoles into the world.

Now is the time to get ordering and get digging, especially during this boring lockdown! Gardenis sells;

3 sizes of preformed ponds, that are quick and easy to install.

Pond kits, in 3 sizes that include pond liner, underlay and a solar oxygenator

Pond liner and underlay in many sizes

AND

just pond liner in various sizes.

All can help create a lovely pond in your garden that is not only a great place for garden wildlife, they also make an attractive focal point and relaxing feature.

All available in the ponds and water features section;

https://gardenis.co.uk/collections/pond-water-features

A customer with a fantastic garden recently ordered two flat top arches from Gardenis.co.uk. He is painting both red to create an oriental part of the garden. Despite the gloom he has been busy and one is already in place and painted, the other will go in the space to the right. In a few months time when spring is here they will look great, surrounded by fresh new foliage, plants and flowers.