Containerized Water Gardening

A tub garden is a simple and beautiful addition to any garden, large or small. You can do a grouping of numerous urns or barrels or a single garden. Because they are above ground, they should be in half shade and half sun if fish are added, providing the container is large enough.

You will need:

A half oak barrel, urn, or large planter that will hold water. A liner, fish and plant friendly: PVC, EPDM, Butyl, or rigid liner. Two large plastic or pulp pots (8x6 or 6x6) or several smaller pots. Aquatic Plants, Fish and snails (* see below).

Fertilizer Tablets formulated for water gardening, available at aquatic nurseries. Pea- gravel (available at hardware, nursery, or fish stores), garden soil, heavy with clay. * A filter and pump (optional). Rena makes a pump and filter combination that is great.

Getting Started:

1. Insert the liner in the oak barrel and fill with water. You may add a dechlorinator (available at fish stores) or wait 48 hours until the chlorine has dissipated before adding fish and snails.

2. Add four bunches of Hornwort. This is an oxygenating grass and is available at aquatic nurseries or pet stores. The Hornwort keeps the water clear by consuming the nutrients that algae thrives on. Do not plant hornwort. Wisteria, Sagittaria, or Foxtail may be substituted. These plants are to be planted in one pot of soil and capped with pea gravel and submerged on the bottom of the barrel.

3. Add a floating type of plant for coverage. Some varieties are: Salvinia, Water Lettuce, or Water Hyacinth. These are added directly to the garden; they do not require planting.

4. Add a miniature Water Lily (Helvola or Tetragona Pygmy). These are to be planted in soil--not potting soil which is too light and will float. Soil from your garden with no organics added is preferable. Cover the hole of the pot with three ply newspaper or weed barrier. Top off the soil with one inch of pea-gravel. Add fertilizer tablet three inches from the growing crown.
   *Note: You want about 65% coverage on the top of the barrel or urn to keep the water temperature consistent. You can plant all the plants in a large pot at the bottom of the pond or in smaller pots. Smaller pots can be stacked in the barrel or on inverted pots to balance them. Any plant that grows out of the water will not affect the balance of the garden's ecosystem.

5. You may also put in a few (2) small goldfish (Shubunkins or Saracas Comets), Fancy Tailed Guppies, or other small tropical fish. Tropical fish must be brought into an indoor aquarium for the winter. Filter required.

6. Put in five Trapdoor Snails. These are the only snails that won't eat your foliage. They are not asexual and need a mate to reproduce. The female gives birth to one snail at a time.

7. Additional plants may include those that grow out of the water, such as: Miniature Cattails (Typhaminima), Zebra Rush (Scirpus zebrinus), Graceful Cattail (Typha laxmannii), Variegated Cattail, Pickeral Rush, Sweetflag, Melon Sword, Lobelia Cardinals, Arrowhead (Sagittaria latiflolia or japonica).

8. Other potted floating plants include: Patterned Four Leaf Water Clover, Regnellidium, Primrose Creeper, or Nymphoides (peltata or crenata).

Maintenance:

1. If you don't put a small filter in your water garden, you will need to do a half water change once every one or two weeks. Be sure to use a dechlorinator each time you do so. However, if you don't have fish in your garden you don't need to change the water.

2. Add a fertilizer directly into the soil once a month. Do not add the fertilizer directly into the tub, as this will cause an algae bloom.

3. Remove brown spent flower buds or leaves. Floating plants are prolific and need to be pruned to maintain a 65% coverage.

4. For winter maintenance, the garden should be moved to a protected area or basement. If your garden is in a ceramic urn, the urn must be emptied because it will break if it freezes, remove plants to a plastic garbage can filled with water and put in a protected area.