Breath of Life

By Alternativeeden @markngaz

Amazing how putting plants in any space suddenly gives the area an instant breath of life. You put life, you get life back. That's how it felt when we moved plants in to our newly built shed and suddenly it's become a very nice place to hang out in.

Our Shed O'Fun is almost finished with just the final connections for the electrics still needs doing as well as some painting on the door and exterior wood. Both can wait for awhile when weather is much more favourable. It is however finished enough that we have put in some fish over a week ago (to also help kick start the filtration) as well as moved in some plants last weekend.


Before I proceed further a quick recap on how we got there starting from where we left off from our last update:


Hardwood decking left over from our koi project was used to edge the quarantine pond

Insulation and lining applied on the sides as well as old carpet and blankets on the base

Twinkles had to inspect of course!

Pond liner in, it was time to fill up with water!

New flooring applied over the decking to keep the heat in much better

With the pond filled it was time to disinfect the entire system with Potassium permanganate

Little bistro set in as well, which I'm thinking of painting orange later in the year

Filtration all up and running

Internal woodwork painted

Shelving up, ready for pond supplies and plants

With the space almost finished but already usable (with some temporary arrangements for the electrical supply) it was time to move in some life into the shed.

First were a few small koi which will also start the maturation of the filter:


Then the plants:



With both fish and plants in the space now feels full of life, both literally and figuratively, and is a very nice place to spend time in. We usually hang out here for an hour or so after work, admiring the plants and looking at the fish with the radio on.


We're still waiting for the arrival of the heating tubes that will go here but for now we're using a greenhouse heater to give some supplemental heat. Heat retention is very good and is comfy inside even when the fan heater only goes on every so often.


More plants will be moving in over the next few days and will feature them on a separate post soon!


Mark :-)