How Does Your Water Garden Grow? Part 3 of Creating a Backyard Pond
Once you have your backyard pond designed and built, it’s time to
start gardening.
First a note about koi ponds and plants. If you are planning to keep koi, as mentioned in the first installment of this article, you can count on them destroying your plants. However, if you created tiers for potted plants, then the rocks that hold the pots in place may also protect them from the koi. Some purchase plant protectors, but these can be a nuisance — and they can also kill frogs and smaller fish. A better option is to add a smaller pond that waterfalls down into the main pond.
The healthiest and prettiest water gardens include three types of plants (and may also include fish and scavengers as detailed below):
Emergent Plants: Also called marginal plants, these have roots in the water and shoots above the water that are added to the margins of pools and include cattails, arrowhead, and water lilies.
Submergent Plants: As the name implies, these are submerged under the water. Elodea is one example. These are often very good at removing carbon dioxide from the water and adding oxygen and help keep the water clear. Anacharis is an underwater plant that uses up the nutrients that would otherwise feed the algae.
Planting Tips for Emergent and Submergent Plants:
Plants these into pots such as plastic baskets lined with burlap or newspaper or pulp planters. Fill each container about half full with a mixture of good garden topsoil. Place the plant on top of the soil and fill the container with topsoil within one inch of the top.
Water lily rhizomes are handled a bit differently. First create a mound of soil in the middle of the pot, and then place the rhizome at a 45-degree angle with the crown pointed towards the center of the pot. Cover the roots with soil, but not the crown.
With all of these potted plants, add a layer of gravel to the top of the pot to keep the soil in and the fish out. Slowly place the pots in the pond on bricks or tiers.
Floating Plants: These plants sail free with no anchors and include duckweed, water lettuce and the wonderfully fragrant, water hyacinth. The two latter ones can get out hand, except in cold northern climates. Floaters help keep the water clear by limiting the amount of sunlight that algae receive. To add these to your water garden, simply place directly into the pond.
When possible, use native plants because they will not require fertilizer. One problem with fertilizing is that too much fertilizer can cause algae blooms, which in turn deplete oxygen. Check with your nursery and/or organic water garden books and Websites for specifics on care of your water garden plants. To effectively fight algae, plants should cover 50 to 70 percent of the water surface.
You may also want to add goldfish, mosquito fish or other fish to your water garden. They are not only fun to watch, but they will earn their keep by ridding your pond of mosquitoes and other unwanted insects. You may need to do some research on how to keep fish in a pond. Your local fish store, library and authority Websites will help you figure out the kind of fish you want and how to care for them.
Once the work is done and you are enjoying your beautiful pond and the connections with nature and relaxation it provides, you may find that your love of water gardening surpasses the size of your pond. Should this happen, remember you can always add a stream with waterfall into a second, and a third…
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Tags: backyard landscaping, Backyard Pond, Backyard Pond Landscaping, water feature, Water Fountain, Water Gardens
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