The Basics Of Container Water Gardens
A container water garden is basically like a miniature pond ecosystem in a container. You don't actually have to put in full-scale pond features to be able to grow water-based plants.
In a container water garden, pond plants grown in containers of a growing medium of some sort that are submersed in water inside another container. The container will probably need to be at least one or two feet wide by a foot feep. Plastic containers are probably the easiest to use for these gardens, but you can also use sealed ceramic containers or lined wooden barrels.
When designing a water garden, you should use plants in a variety of heights and sizes. This is what will make your presentation truly beautiful. You should try to use at least one erect type of plant, such as yellow flag iris or sweet flat. Then you should choose a broad-leaf plant like giant arrowhead or calla lily. Then you need some sort of cascading plan like parrot feather or water mint. After this, you should finish the container off with some floating plants like water hyacinth or water lettuce. Floaters will be the biggest focal point in most water gardens.
The plants themselves will be planted into individual containers full of a dense clay earth. These containers are them submerged underwater inside the larger container. You can use bricks to elevate the smaller containers to lift the foliage of the plants up above the water line.
Your container water garden needs to be put in a location where it will receive a minimum of six hours of full sun. You should be sure to add more water every few days as it evaporates. Also, you should add a fertilizer tablet when the plants start to grow well.
If algae develops in the container, simply remove all of the plants, empty the water out of the container, then fill it back up and put the plants back in. Mosquitoes are rarely a problem since the living plants keep the water from turning stagnant, but if you do have an issue with them, perform the same task you would if algae developed, or just put a hose into the container and let it run for a while. As the container overflows with water, the mosquito larva will be washed out over the top of the container.
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