Utilizing Water Garden Containers to Build a City Oasis
For city residents, yard space is at a premium. With apartment houses planted right on the streets and a minimal amount of communal land in the back, there’s no way to plant a garden or cultivate a lot of flowers. You can, however, think small. If you have access to 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 splashing and watch tiny fish swimming, grow water plants, and appreciate the serenity nothing but a water garden can offer. Water garden containers give you the basis for developing a watery oasis in very limited space.
Coming up with water garden containers isn’t as hard as selecting 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 have to have containers to produce your water plants in, because plants have to be grown in separate pots and then put into the water-filled container. It’s preferable to choose a container with a dark interior, because the dark color will provide your pond with the look of depth. Dark interiors are also more practical in that they won’t provide an attraction for algae and yet they’ll mask the presence of any algae that starts to grow.
Your water garden optimumly will be located in a place where it will get at minimum six hours of sun each day. Many water plants don’t grow and flower well without at least that much sunlight, although some bog plants will be all right with less sun. The plants you pick for your garden need to be varied for the prettiest effect. Choose some that float, a few that grow under water, and emergent species when selecting the plants you would like to incorporate into your garden. Plants offer the function of shading the water which, once again, decreases the growth of algae. When you build a new water garden, however, you must expect your water to get cloudy after a couple of weeks. Just stick it out, though, and the plants and fish will eventually start controlling the algae growth, and the water will clear up.
In addition to fish, you should stick a few snails in your water garden containers. Snails are instrumental in eating algae, fish waste products, and decaying organic materials. Small fish, such as guppies, are recommended for containers that are 20 gallons or smaller; larger than that you can probably add a couple of goldfish. Guppies and other types of fish like that are ideal choices, because they handle changes in temperature well, and they eat those pesky mosquitoes.