Pond newbie, are these lilies a lost cause? How to keep clean/clear water?

[David_VI]

I inherited this pond when I bought the house mid last year.
I had big ideas for the pond but its taken a backseat to the house.

Yesterday I cleaned out the filter, cleaned the waterfall and put some stones near it (I saw a frog and thought he'd appreciate it).

But the plants that were in the pond were dead over winter and some I had left out of the pond because I didn't know what to do, they looked like they were a mess.

If you see my other thread, you'll see I had big ideas but I am not in the position to look into those yet.
I just want to do the best with what I've got so the fish are happy and the water is nice!

First of all, these were lilies? Are they a lost cause?

Also, the water doesn't appear very clear.
I cleaned the filter, repaired the UV light that wasn't working for months! (I didn't know). What else can I do? I don't know what's at the bottom of the pond, it's very deep (5ft at deepest maybe) but i read stones help with clear water?

I'm hoping to visit a garden center at the weekend, and if needed I can buy new plants or anything repaired by your advice.
All advice appreciated, I'm totally in the dark with this!

 

[David_VI]

So fiddling around I discovered under the slate and a liner is all this white stone...
This isn't the pond liner but under the slate only.

 

[bagsmom]

Good morning! You will get lots of good advice on here! I am still too new to ponding to really speak with any authority. But -- I think your plants are probably just dormant for the winter! I would replant them and get them in the water, then see what comes up in the Spring! Here in the US, most of our garden centers won't start selling pond plants until late Spring. You can purchase mail order, but those are often not shipped till the proper planting time. It seems to me that you just have a pond that is still "sleeping" for the winter season. Mine looks very drab - and I am even in the south, where things have a very long growing season. You have definitely picked the right time to plan ahead and see what you are working with. But I really think when things get going for the season, you will get some happy surprises!

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi david welcome to the forum, you have inherited a lovely looking pond and you seem to be doing well with it already, those lillies look ok to me plant them up with some aquatic compost and they should be fine top them with gravel or small cobbles to stop the fish digging them up and messing the water up, your water looks really clear, i dont use my uv from november to march as the green algae needs sunshine to bloom,the white stone looks like what was used as a top dressing and the "liner" looks like a weed suppressing membrane that was used and then the slate on top, i would say a good thing to purchase is a water testing kit not the dip type but one where you use drip reagents and test for ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,kh,ph,gh and phosphate do some tests and post the results on here where some very clever people will tell you what your results mean, hold back on the food till it warms up a bit (i know its hard when they stalk you round the pond)and carry on doing what your doing it looks great, all the best mark, and again welcome to the forum

 

[addy1]

I use kitty litter for the lilies, the fish (goldfish) never bother them.