WHERE TO BEGIN YOUR WATER GARDENING

This is really a place where you can begin your water gardening experience. I am sure there are places like this all over the country but this one happens to be in Warwick New York and is the Garden State Koi. These Koi are among the first thing you observe when entering this outdoor water gardening site. It is definitely a commerical site which sells everything for your pond or waterfall. They will install it for you like the gushing falls below right down to the rocks.

The people who are into this water gardening whether be a pond or just a decorative backyard waterfall or a patio pond are dedicated to this form of gardening. Yes you read correctly a patio pond. All you need to accomplished this feat is a very large pot,some aquatic plants,and if you so desired goldfish or something larger can be added to this pot.In the pot pictured below,we find red leaf lobella,water hyacinths, and corkscrew rush to name a few aquatic plants. See the next tour Mackinac Island

I asked about the care and feeding of such a patio pond since my water gardening experience is non existent. The first and most obvious requirement,if you do not purchase your pot at a spot such as this,make sure your container is waterproof. In the event it is not waterproof,you will need to line it with a flexible pond liner. The creative side of me thought of using stuff you might find at a cheaper price such as a wooden half barrel(fully lined and scrubbed) or a cast iron soup kettle,a terra-cotta pot,a metal watering trough,or sturdy plastic tub. It would be easy to search garage sales for some of these items.

DON'T CROWD THE WATER GARDENING CONTAINER

The number of plants will depend on the size of your container. One water lily per square yard of the surface area will suffice. It is not necessary to crowd too many water gardening plants into the container because you can neither see the water or small fish that you might have introduced to the container. You should also inquire about the overwintering of the plants. The Garden State Koi had almost all their plants labeled with an informative tag stating the climate zone in which the plant would survive. See our new tour of Botanical Garden in the Berkshires The selection pictured here is but a small portion of what is available in the water gardening world. I would fill the container,having observed the above patio container about two-thirds full of water. The container should be positioned so it receives about six hours of sun. The real thing to remember,in using a 25 gallon container,is the water alone weighs 200 pounds and this does not count the weight of the pot. It would be a good idea,if you intend to place this on an elevated deck, that the structure will be able to support this kind of load concentrated in one area.

The container may have both free floating plants,such as water hyacinth with delicate violet flowers,or plants that remain in their pots and are positioned six inches under water. There are some plants that work best if only partially submerged and this you will have to check with your aquatic expert. It was sugggested to me, for those totally submerged pots,to add a little sand to the top of the pot to keep the soil from floating out of the pot. I would have never thought of that one. It was pointed out that in order to keep some plants partially out of the water to add bricks or upside down pots to your container providing different levels of elevation for your water gardening plants.

There is one problem when you live in the North. The plants maybe able to survive the outdoor climate but your pot or container and fish,if you put a few in,will not.It will be necessary to transport everything inside for the winter. This should be a consideration in your water gardening plans.

As I mentioned before you may not live close to a near by water garden store or maybe you would like to review pond products and purchase them on line. Well here is the ideal place to look:

HOW ABOUT A SMALL BACKYARD WATER GARDENING FALLS?

My wife and I looked around at all the avenues available in this water gardening world. We liked the idea of a small water fall in the yard which comes equipped with a recyling water pump. We did like the patio pot approach but we are not sure about the maintenance and moving the plants in and out of doors. The small waterfalls in our mind seem like an easier approach. This partculiar falls,as matter of fact any of the falls, can be assembled by yourself or the aquatic garden shop where you purchase the item. It becomes pricey if you have it done by the shop,this one was about $3500.00 installed or you could do it yourself for about $799.00. In either case,all the materials are provided and they would allow you to design your own water fall but keep in mind the price will change based upon your input. In my opinion I would opt for the installation feeling that I am not up to installing the eighth wonder of the world. You can see by the pictures we took below,there are endless designs for these backyard wonders.

WATCH OUT FOR YOUR FISH IN WATER GARDENING

We were staring at these huge Koi fish when a gentleman and his wife happened by the tank. The first advice from a man who has not one,but two ponds was not to start with these $299.00 fish. You and I both say what! He advise that I could purchase them from a tank outside in what I would call the infant state for $4.99. Those,he said would grow this large in less than five years. His second piece of advice was even more of an eye opener. In our neigborhood,and his,there are those birds called the blue heron and wherever you live you may have something similar that love fishing without a license or any regard for what it cost you to supply the pond with these beautiful fish.

This is a graceful enough bird and one that I took a picture of on the West Coast of Florida. I did not realize that he would be joining us for summer dinners in the North. The gentleman advised me that if I were studying the construction of a pond it would be necessary to provide a heavy net over the pond during the months of July and August or my water gardening Koi fish would become a dinner treat. He also mentioned some kind of liquid dye that gives the water a strange color but the birds cannot see the fish from the air with this dye. You probably cannot see the fish from the ground either so I would go for the nets.

Then I am talking to my son,who lives in New Jersey,and he told me of a couple who lost $2,000 of fish in two days to of all things,racoons. I know you are thinking,if you have never been in Western New Jersey,how is this possible? It will suffice to say that not all of New Jersey is paved. These are the kind of decisions you have to ponder for a pond. Oh my what did I just say? You need a bit of a light tempo if you are about to lose that kind of money to a bird or some other kind of animal. The trials and tribulations of water gardening. We certainly had a good time on this little foray into an area neither of us knew anything about until now. Those of you that live in this part of New York or Pennsylvania for that matter would enjoy a day trip to this destination near Warwick,New York the Garden State Koi at 657 Route 94. The town of Warwick is a very interesting spot full of well kept older houses and lots of little quaint restaurants to visit. If you are an antique buff,then you will have twice the treat as Warwick is full of these type of shops.Well if you decide to get started or already an avid fan happy water gardening! I will think about it.

visit Garden-Fountains.

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