Assembly and Maintenance

Assembling your new watergarden is easy. Place it in a sunny spot for best flower production. If you're using a preformed barrel liner just pop it in and add water.

You may choose to use an inexpensive flexible liner to reduce costs. A heavy duty black plastic is fine, EPDM would be expensive overkill for this purpose. Insert the liner into the barrel and mold it as best you can to the shape of the barrel. Flattened folds look better than crunched ones. Add water and the liner will be pushed out against the barrel. You can trim and attatch the upper edge to the barrel with fish-safe caulk or screws. I used a black plastic "pipe hanger" band that I got from the hardware store and some half inch screws. The liner was lapped over the top of the barrel and a length of this band around the outside circumference of the barrel held the liner in place nicely.

If you take your liner up over the top of your barrel you may have a problem with water "wicking" up over the top. A dab of fish-safe caulk at each fold should fix this or just trim the liner even with the top of the barrel.

You can add your plants immediately. Use bricks or upside down flower pots to get your plants to the desired height. "Floaters" such as Water Hyacinth or Water Lettuce can be used in addition to or, to keep costs down, in place of the Water Lily.

Wait a week to add any animal life. Some sort of inexpensive goldfish is a good idea to keep the mosquitos in check. Two or three small ones are plenty, more than that may require some sort of filter system. Feed them once or twice a day until you can see some algae forming and mosquitos start to come out. Then feed very little after that. The will eat algae and Mosquito larvae and perhaps nibble your underwater plants and be quite happy (and small). It would be best to wait till algae starts to form on the sides of your barrel before you add your snails.

Your lily and/or floating plants will soon grow and multiply. Ideally you want 50-70% of the surface covered with plant material to cut down on the amount of sunlight entering the water. This will help you to avoid algae problems. The main contributors to algae growth are sunlight, fish food, and rotting plant material. Keep these minimized and you shouldn't have an algae problem or require a filter. A 10-15% water change once a week or so will help keep your fish healthy. Obtain a clorine removing treatment form your local pet shop if you have city water. If you live in a warm climate and your barrel will be in operation year round you may need to increase your waterchanges to 20-25% or constant evaporation and replenishment may lead to accumulation of minerals in your water.

A "net-friend" of mine who's interested in Hummingbirds gave me a neat idea that I'm thinking of incorporating into my barrels this year. It seems that the "Hummers" like to bathe in a fine water mist by flying through it. I have seen these "misters" at a local birdhouse/feeder/seed store. Hooked on to a hose via a thin tube, they would be a good way to bring moving water to a barrel without having to run electricity to it. There are also "drippers" which are favored by Chickadees and Finches.

If your planned location would not be damaged by a little overflow from the barrel, this might be just the thing to add a bit more interest to your watergarden. Water Lilies like still water but I don't think that these devices would put out enough to disturb them.

Overwintering

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If you live in a cold climate like I do you will have to decide how to over-winter your barrel. I wait for the fall die-back and clip the dead plant materal away. Then I move the barrel into my attatched garage and place it on a styrofoam sheet next to the "warm" wall of the garage. The plants are placed at the bottom of the barrel and the barrel is refilled with water. It stays warm enough in the garage that the barrel won't freeze solid and my plants have always come through ok. Animals have to be brought inside to a fish tank or replaced in the spring.

I have never tried this but if you want to try over-wintering outside you might look into a birdbath heater. This is a smaller version of the floating pond heaters that are used to keep pond surfaces open in winter. Such a heater, perhaps assisted by some sort of insulation around the barrel, should keep it thawed thru the cold months. Local birds will reward you with their visits to what might be the only unfrozen water in a large area.

Make sure that the heating element doesn't contact the plastic liner or it may melt. Any time that you mix water with electricity you MUST use a GFI (ground fault interrupter) !! Check with your local city government for code requirements. Again, I have not tried this so use your own good judgement and, if you do this or something similar, let me know how you fared.

And later a pond appeared ...

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Photos of my pond ...

Shubun's Pond Details

Description of my ponds construction ...

Shubun's Pond Construction

Some Filtration Basics

Filtration Basics

Leaf Skimmer/Pump Box

Skimmer Details

Additional Links to interesting places ...

NORTHERN POND

Daydreamer Perennial Gardens

Internet Pond Society

North Texas Water Garden Society

AQUA-MART POND & WATER GARDEN SUPPLIES

V.J.'s Pond Service

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