Container Garden Water:

The Basics of Container Water Gardening

by Nicky Rogers

The first step is choosing a spot for your container water garden, and remember what these babies need: 6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day, no overhanging trees, and a nearby water source. Most home and garden chain stores carry all the materials you need to create small ponds, including the plastic liners. So you’re only limited by your imagination and a few basic rules in choosing a container to hold your water garden.

Here are three easy rules to follow before you pick out the container:

• It must be easy to drain.
• It must be non-porous.
• It must be deep enough to support the plants you want to grow.

Your friend and humble garden article narrator has seen it all when it comes to water gardens. I've seen 'em that use everything from old bathtubs to an network of terracotta pots (with plastic liners), to large baskets (also with plastic liners) and Rubbermaid storage containers like the ones you slide under the bed.

A quick FYI: for container water gardens, you won’t actually be planting the plants in the bottom of the pond, per se. Instead, each plant will be planted in its own separate pot and submerged in water.

You’ll need the containers, plants, bricks or terracotta pots, gravel, heavy soil, aquatic plant fertilizer tablets (or old fish water from a freshwater aquarium), and a garden hose.

If they’re not already in suitable pots, you’ll have to pot your plants. Do not use potting soil, vermiculite, or peat moss –- these will wash out of the pots and foul the water. Instead, you'll employ a very heavy, mud-clay-like soil. Fill the pot 2/3 full with soil. Push a fertilizer tab into the soil (or water with fish water), then carefully spread the roots of the plant over the surface of the soil. Add a few more inches of dirt and lightly tamp down, then cover with an inch or so of pea gravel. Repeat until all of your plants are potted.

Enter the bricks. The tops of the plant pots should be no more than a few inches below the surface of the water. Stack bricks, upended terracotta pots, or construction blocks in the container and place pots on top of them to vary the heights of the plants.

Add the pump for a fountain effect or waterfall if using one.

If you are employing a fountain or waterfall, follow instructions on the back of the box.

Using the garden hose, fill your container with water until the plant pots are submerged under a few inches of water. Your best bet is filling from the bottom by dropping the hose into the bottom of the container and letting the water level rise. This reduces the chance of disturbing the soil and gravel in your plants.

Enjoy!