GardenMaid| Introduction to Water-Gardening

Introduction to Water-Gardening

Water gardening can take many different forms. It can be in the form of waterfalls, ponds, fountains, all of which can be enhanced by combinations rock work, lighting, plants, and fish. Water gardening doesn't have to be a pond or natural water source. It can consist of just a plastic tub or basically anything that can hold water.

The most important thing to consider in water gardening is probably the placement. Both plants and fish need plenty of sunlight. So, always try to place your water garden in direct light away from trees and bushes. This will also help prevent leaves and debris from collecting in the water.

When you start to plan a water garden, the first step is to determine the size you want. This will depend on how much money you are willing to spend because water gardening can get expensive if you opt for a large garden full of plants, rocks, fish, and lights. Also consider the size of your property, and the amount of time you want to spend with maintaining your water garden.

Overall water gardens consume far less time than a land based garden, but there is some maintenance involved. You may be the type person who couldn't grow a flower if you tried but would be excellent at water gardening. If you are looking for a way to occupy some time and beautify your yard, water gardening is an excellent garden choice for you.

The main difficulty in water gardening is keeping water clear of algae. Algae problems are usually caused from too many nutrients in the water from feeding fish too often or from over fertilizing plants. If ponds are built correctly and properly maintained algae problems will be kept at a minimum.

You will read and hear many different opinions about which plant and how many plants a pond should have. Some say cover 40% of the water surface, some say 60%. The short truthful answer is that everyone is correct. The key is balance.

We wanted to make that point clear right here at the beginning because as you read some of the guest articles and they tell you this percentage and that and then another article give you a whole different set of numbers that they are both correct based on the number of fish inches and plant selection they have in their pond

As a starting point we suggest our article, Balancing a Pond.