If your family has a small yard, you may think that you have no space for a water garden, but there is no need to miss out on the aesthetic and wildlife benefits that a water feature will bring – and your kids will love it!
A large pot or half barrel makes a great pond, and there are many smaller-scale plants that will fit in the container perfectly. Even though larger-scale ponds can be easier to maintain, as they are slower to warm up and cool down than smaller ponds, you will be surprised by how much wildlife will make use of your little watery oasis.
Border basics
A 24 inch diameter container is the perfect size and is great for the corner of a patio. Look for a spot that has sun for about half the day.
Shopping list:
Container
Aquatic compost
Nymphaea “Pygmaea Helvola” – a hardy water lily
Nymphaea “Pygmaea Rubra” – red pygmy water lily
Nymphaea “Froebelii”- a hardy water lily
Typha minima – miniature cattail
Myriophyllum aquaticum - parrotfeather
Getting Ready
Half barrels, when soaked, should become watertight, but it is hard to get them wet enough and you might find it easier to use a piece of pond liner that is stapled or tacked around the insides of the pot. Once you’ve done this, fill with water.
Planting
• Put the plants into aquatic baskets, plastic mesh containers filled with aquatic compost
• Place a layer of pea gravel over the surface of each pot and then place them on the bottom of the container
• The lilies and parrotfeather do not need planting and will simply float just above or below the surface
For wildlife
Use a pile of stone or a small wooden ramp to allow wildlife to find its way in and out of your new pond in a pot.
In the comment field tell us your favorite food to grow in the garden and you could win a copy of Simple Steps: Family Garden. Comments must be posted by Sunday, March 15th.
~Talk to other parents on Gather in the Parenting Group. Share photos of your children, your family stories, and parenting questions.~
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 97
My favorite food fresh from the garden (my in-laws live behind me and garden) would have to be zucchini or squash!
Our favorite thing to grow are tomatoes. For the simple fact the kids love to grow their own, they plant them, water them, check on them every day and they get to eat what they grow! It's something we have done for years!
We eat as much organic food as possible so our food bill is a bit higher at $100 a week. During the summer it will be less because of our garden.
In addition to the peaches, my next favorite would have to be my cilantro and other herbs that I grow each year. I cut and either freeze or dry them for use all year long.
This year we will be planting herbs, chiles, peppers, squash, melons, broccoli, corn, tomatoes and a few others. So of course, they are ALL our favorites!
One of my Gather friends sent us some heirloom seeds which will gave us a great start!
But on another note, I like to plant cherry tomatoes, basil, and cilantro in pots around my house. The best spot is on my front steps and the mail carrier gets a pleasant whiff of pungent herbs when he delivers the mail each day.
My fave to grow in the garden..... memories, our garden is planted and tended and played in by all of my kids and myself, it provides great memories each year..we also try to grow the "biggest you ever saw" veg and fruit...they get a kick out of noticing how small produce is in the markets :>}
pregnantonion.gather.com
I did have an old bathtub pond for a while and had a pump - I love these type gardens and am inspired once again! Thank you. Salud
Two years ago, I tried to convince the local squirrels to eat squirrel food, not our tomatoes, but apparently city squirrels don't like corn or pumpkin seeds. I don't know which birds decided to try the pumpkin seeds, but one was spit out into an open container. By the time we got out back, after our vacation, it was already two feet long with beautiful huge leaves. We replanted it into the largest container. I'd never have continued, if I knew about Powdery Mildew, and how often I'd have to re-direct the monster, so all my neighbors wouldn't have the same vine in their yards, too. (We live in rowhomes with 16' X 16' yards, so that's a lot of vine to wander into plenty of neighbor's yards, if left unchecked.) Still, it ended up being a wonderful mistake - giving us 4 "urban-sized" pumpkins - with one showing off the carving we did, when it was small. It said, "Garden Gals." We had decorations for Halloween and enough fresh pumpkin for a Thanksgiving and Christmas pie. In between, we had roasted, saltless pumpkin seeds, although they were a bit burnt.
Last year the "mistake" was cabbage. Sure, we planned on growing one from seeds, but the list of which seeds were in which seed starter got lost, so we assumed it was tumbling tomatoes - a perfect plant for our small round grill-turned-container. If we had known it was a cabbage, of course we would have known it would need more space to grow. Well, maybe it didn't. We knew it was in the cabbage family fairly early, but we were trying to grow Kale Walking Stick (which is now waiting to start it's second year growth in our front container. Oopsie, again. lol) This cabbage could have been either of those two plants, brocolli, or even, maybe, brussel sprouts.
The brussel sprouts were all picked, by the time we noticed their was a small head in our grill-container. Had to be cabbage! Once the head finally started to form, it amazed us how quickly it grew. Of course, since our garden is also about experimenting (oh, come on - surely you didn't think anyone could be convinced to eat both brocolli AND brussel sprouts without a very good excuse, did you? lol), we had just one fear left. The grill is about 20" round. The cabbage variety could grow up to 25 pounds. (If it did, we would have given it to the local food bank. No way, even I could be talked into eating 25 pounds of cabbage. lol) We never found out how big it could have grown. We cut it off together, when it was only 2 pounds. Yummy cabbage salad!
Now, my only problem is - "How can I make a mistake on purpose this year?" Kinda defeats the concept of having a mistake, but, after the last two years, actually knowing what we're growing will be boring! lol
My favorite thing to grow in the garden is tomatoes, as the home-grown tomatoes really are the best. I have to say though that I'm really looking forward to the mangoes ripening on our mango tree.
Yes, it would. That's why I always planned to add a circulation pump to mine - if we could make one. I hear coy helps eat the nymphs, but then, you have to figure out how to keep the fish alive in winter (or explain to your kids/grandkids why it was also OK that they froze to death.) If I'm not mistaken there are organic balls you can buy that keep the bugs out. And, finally, they don't like moving water, so if you add a small fountain, too, problem is solved.
No such thing as unwelcomed bees! Bees are beneficial insects, and often needed to grow food, including most fruit trees. Only thing unwelcomed, about bees, is hives - if the hive is located in your yard or house. The way the bee population is declining, giving them water only seems fair after all they do for us.
My favorite food to grow in a garden is tomatoes. They are easy and so rewarding! I haven't grown any in a while, but I intend to get some tomato plants and plant them this weekend, in fact.
They are so easy to grow. I plant them right next to the backdoor among my flowers. That way I don't have to go all the way to the garden to get a fresh tomato when unexpected company comes for dinner.
I also have a raspberry patch that produces twice a year- early summer and later in September. Mulberry trees at the back of the yard produce during June. They're kind of wild, but I pick half and let the birds eat the other half.
My favorite food to grow in the garden? Hmm. I guess that would be tomatoes. There's nothing like a nice, fresh, home-grown tomato sandwich with mayo. Yum. And when I'm tired of eating them fresh, I blanch them, remove the skin and pop them in the freezer to use all winter. Easy, peasy, as my granddaughter would say!
As far as building a little pond, that would suit me just fine! I love any kind of water effects, and learning how to create our own, given the state of the economy, would be absolutely perfect. We have a nice back porch with a lovely arbor that we had built a few years ago, and all it needs is a little pond for the finishing touch!
I'd love to have a water feature, but it's just too tempting for the critters that ramble through the neighborhood.
Edibles? Cherry tomatoes, and a few herbs.
Serrano peppers grow very well here, too.
Well my favorite food to grow is peas, mostly because I love PEAS! LOL but also because the vines are really beautiful, they go to show that with a little work, it's all up from here! :-) Pumpkins are the funniest to grow I'd say, as a side note.