Utilizing Water Garden Containers to Design a City Oasis
November 1st, 2009 by KittyKitty
For big city inhabitants, yard space is at a premium. With apartment houses built right on the streets and a minimal amount of communal land in back of the buildings, there’s no way to plant a garden or cultivate a lot of flowers. You can, however, think on a much smaller scale. If you have a balcony or a deck, or even a fire escape, you can create a water garden in containers that will give you the semblance of an in-ground water feature. You’ll be able to hear the water running and observe tiny fish swimming, grow water plants, and enjoy the serenity that only a water garden can offer. Water garden containers give you the foundation for constructing a watery environment in very limited space.
Finding water garden containers isn’t as difficult as choosing exactly what you think is best. A recommended size for a container is 15-25 gallons, and any sort of container in that size range can be used. You will also require containers to plant your water plants in, because plants have to be grown in separate pots and then put into the water-filled container. It’s better to choose a container with a dark-colored interior, because the dark color will give your pond the perception of depth. Dark interiors are also more environmentally-friendly in that they won’t attract algae and yet they’ll camouflage the presence of any algae that starts to grow.
Your water garden needs to be located in a location where it will get at minimum six hours of sun each day. Most water plants don’t thrive and flower well without at least that much sunlight, but some bog plants will be all right with less sun. The plants you pick for your garden need to be varied for the best effect. Choose some with floating properties, a few that grow under water, and emergent species when selecting the plants you want to include in your water garden. Plants serve the function of shading the water which, once again, decreases the growth of algae. When you start a new water garden, however, you can expect your water to get cloudy-looking after a couple of weeks. Just hang on, though, and the plants and fish will eventually begin controlling the algae in the pond, and the water will begin to get clearer.
In addition to fish, you need to stick a few snails in your water garden containers. Snails are critical in eating algae, fish waste matter, and decaying organic materials. Really small fish, such as guppies, are recommended for containers that are 20 gallons or less; larger than that you can probably add a couple of goldfish. Guppies and fish like that are excellent choices, because they handle changes in temperature well, and they eat those pesky mosquitoes.
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