How to grow water soldier...

There is not so many people like friend of mine who constantly has to do something and keep her hands busy. Others prefer to enjoy quietly created surrounding instead of constantly weeding, cleaning, watering, changing places of plants. 

If you want a water garden or pond that will need minimum maintenance, you need lots of aquatic plants. Artificial ponds need lots of plantings in order to establish balance in the eco-system, so water can be filtered by plants and kept clean.

Water soldier grows very fast and will be very useful for forming dense mat of floating vegetation that will fill the pond. This interesting plant resembling aloe plant is floating in the water and sinking to the bottom for the winter. Sometimes it gets attached to the bottom with the long roots – which are reported growing even 5 m long.

It origins from Europe and Asia, but in some countries like Canada it’s on the list of invasive plant, as it spreads very fast in natural waters.

You can recognize water soldier by sharp edges similar to aloe plant. Plant  submerged in water or sinks below the surface as the leaves growing up to 40 cm  mature. It flowers with 3 white petal flowers, then developing around 20 seeds.

Water soldier is easy to grow and doesn’t have special requirements, when you bring it home, you just ‘toss’ it to the pond. Bigger plants will need some help, as they will be out of balance probably until next season. Water soldiers propagate by offsets which look like smaller version of the adult plants.    

   

Rusted steel deco in the water garden

Rusted steel trend spotted at the exhibitions doesn’t fit to one place in the garden only. Would you say that rust is not a nice finish to garden art? Look at the photos, this deco in the water garden for example.  

In my humble opinion there are few pros for rusted steel in the garden:

-       Your garden looks more mature, than it is in reality – it takes some time to cover metal with rust. Placing in the garden element that is fully covered with rust, suggests subconsciously that garden is also matured. That’s a phenomenon known in marketing – you can change the perceived value of an item if you place it accordingly. It can happen both ways, you may add value or diminish it.

-       No need for cleaning – the more weathered, more rusted, the better it looks.

-       Goes well with any style of garden.

-       Stands out and adds smashing style as a new garden decoration trend.

Any cons YOU have in mind?

If you like it, there are ways to cover your deco with rust patina really fast. I mean fast. Like in one hour if you believe it or not. You can buy ready liquids that will do it for you, or you need ingredients available in the store and google the recipe - I found very useful instruction and have included in the last post about rusted steel raised beds.

 

Designer fountain made me remember that you may go for jail for storing water in your property

This pretty designer fountain or rather water feature, brought to my mind today two things.  

One that in some American states you may go to jail for storing water in your own property. I had no idea about it before, if you also, then read the story of Gary Harrington, who was storing rain water in his property. 

  

Second thing that came to my mind is the reconsideration of the look of my own water garden.

Are you - like me - the fan of water in the garden?

When for the first time I thought about my very first own garden, I realized that it will not be complete without some kind of “serious” water feature.  

I will spare you the initial idea of changing entire plot to a pond with bridges thrown over, just to be able  to walk around. The house surrounded with water - at that time the idea seemed to be really splendid. As you may guess not so much today.

Finally I’ve ended up with the pond of 1,6 m deep and 25 sqm – big enough to get the ecosystem able to keep and sustain balance. And minimum maintenance. Let’s be honest. In real life and in real garden there is nothing existing like complete self maintenance – there is always some work required, but the amount of work can make the real difference if you sum up all working hours in a week or month. One hour a week vs 10 hours a week – if you think about it.

After 9 years of struggle of different kinds (grass carp, algaevicious attacks, need for seasonal cleaning) the ecosystem almost got balanced, but there is something missing. And need to figure it out. Will let you know, so stay tuned.

Xoxo,

Ewa

Water Gardens - How?

Everyone loves a water garden. Whether it is a small one in a pot or a large one in your yard, people are just fascinated by the ecosystem you can create with water and plants. Not only are they beautiful but they add a serenity to your garden that you will appreciate.

Water Gardens - How?
Making your own water garden in a pot is relatively easy and inexpensive. You have to find the proper container or pot first. It must be sturdy enough to hold a lot of water without collapsing or leaking. Glass, copper or galvanized metal are usually the best. Ceramic will work as well, but you want to stay away from terracotta. Terracotta will leak or just plain give out as it is not strong enough.
Next, you will need to choose where you want it - making sure it has plenty of sun - and buy soil and gravel for your plants . Make sure to buy a blooming plant as well, because it will make your water garden really look nice. The water in the garden needs to move to keep mosquito's from breeding as well. You can click here to see water pumps that are available for just that. 
If you are doing a large water garden, there are several things you must take into account. First, figure out where it is safe to dig in your yard.  Decide how large you want the garden to be. Some gardens can actually be built above ground with wood and flexible liners - these are relatively easy to put together.

 Photo by Martin Pettitt 

A Floating Garden?
You can also make a floatinggarden within your water garden by building floating "decks" to plant your regular garden on. Of course, you have to make sure they are wired to stay in one place so they wont damage your water plants. Floating gardens make for a two-in-one garden, are very beautiful and take up less space in your yard.
If you build a floating garden above ground, it can be drained and moved to a different location later on in life. That can be viewed as a double bonus, because after all that hard work in building and maintaining your garden, you really wouldn't want to leave it behind if you don't have to.

After Your Garden
Choosing the plants in your water garden is very important. You don't want to over crowd it and it will need "weeding" or "thinning" from time to time.  Make sure to remove any dead leaves or flowers as on a regular basis. If you don't you will get too much "compost" at the bottom of the water and it will get choked and can clog the pump.
Most of all, enjoy the work as you do it and the rewards will be well worth it. If you plan everything ahead of time and have all of your supplies handy, you will be finished in no time at all. 

Good Luck !

Cascading waterfall in sloping garden at night

This view at night is breathtaking. Hostas look like they were born there. This is the place they belong ant fit perfectly. Re-designed and planted 12 months ago. 

This cascading waterfall located in my Krystyna garden in Serock (near Warsaw in Poland) is loved by fish and frogs. We watch birds coming in the morning to take bath or shower, then drying wet feathers in the sun.
If you haven't seen this beautiful sloping garden, have a look here and here.

Living on the boat in Amsterdam

Charming boats and houses on the canals in Amsterdam wouldn't be the same without plants in the pots. Or is it only me and my very subjective perception?

Lavender seems to feel well in this humid environment.

The floating garden

This floating garden adds special interest to the water garden. I would make different plantings.
Note that the platform/boxes ar attached to the edges with transparent cord, so they don't float freely and they stay in the places you want them to stay, not places they want to stay... 

Love paradox

We say we love flowers, yet we pluck them. We say we love trees, yet we cut them down. And people still wonder why some are afraid when told they are loved.

This photo was taken last Thursday in a terrace garden I've visited already few times and showed you nice bunch of photos.

Water hyacinth beautiful, invasive and toxin-eater

My grass carps loved water hyacints - after I brought new plants, they were tearing them apart in less than 5 minutes. I've tried twice and then I got rid of grass carps in the pond - which from the beginning was wrong idea. If you are a beginner gardener, as I used to be, maybe nobody will warn you 'don't let grass carp to your sweet garden pond'. Feel warned now. And don't let them in.

Water hyacinth are a lovely floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. In colder climate zones it is annual, as winters are to harsh for them to survive.

This is one of the fastest growing plants known - they double their population in two weeks! also ther seeds are known to be viable up to thirty years.
So if your winter are mild watch out - and check if water hyacinth is not invasive in your region.

If it's safe to let it to your pond, do it - maybe it will send you these lovely blooms?

This lovely blooming plant has a high capacity for uptaking of heavy metals, including Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Pb, Hg and cyanides, which it suitable for the biocleaning of industrial wastewater.

Further recommended reading Backyard Water Gardens: How to Build, Plant & Maintain Ponds, Streams & Fountains

Water lilies exploding! Could it be EM?

My water lilies are exploding! She was never soo happy before - I still wonder what has happened. One plant, so many healthy leaves and so many flowers! 6 of the them at the same time.

 Recommended further reading Backyard Water Gardens: How to Build, Plant & Maintain Ponds, Streams & Fountains

The only thing I suspect is effective-microorganisms (EM) I have added in May to the pond. They are also beneficial to pond life including fish. Although water in my pond is not completely clear, plants grow much better now.

Have a closer look at this water lily - there are diferent size of leaves. Smaller are grown before I have added EM to the pond. Recently grown leaves are more than double in size.

Effective-microorganisms were described first in 70-ties. In general this is a mixture of microorganisms consisting mainly of lactic acid bacteria, purple bacteria, and yeast which co-exist for the benefit of whichever environment they are introduced, they "help to maintain sustainable practices such as farming and sustainable living, animal husbandry, compost and waste management, disaster clean-up (The Southeast Tsunami of 2004, the Kobe Earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina remediation projects)".

I can say, that beside water lilies boom in my pond, it works perfectly for places sprayed by kitties. I couldn't get rid of that smell on my favorite bag. When I read that EM has the ability of neutralising bad smells I tried it on my bag - and tadadam! bad smell is gone.
I have just read the article on wiki full of scepticism about effective-microorganisms, which I think I don't really get. It seems to work for me.
Any observations do you have?

 Recommended further reading Backyard Water Gardens: How to Build, Plant & Maintain Ponds, Streams & Fountains

Pond algae bloom. Ugh! How to get rid of algae.

That day after I got up, looked at the pond and my heart sunk! Water in the pond got unclear and amount of pond algae got scary. Maybe it sounds to you unreal, but this is usually how it happens: Suddenly algae appears.

The story below will tell you in short how I managed to get rid of algae without using any chemicals in the short period of just 2 weeks. This method doesn't harm plants, nor fish.

Like every spring pond algae attack again. This year it looked pretty bad and situation was getting worse almost every day. We gardeners love flowers, right? Pond algae bloom is one of the worst views in the garden. Ugh! Algae problem is number one problem in the garden pond, if you didn't manage to establish bio-balance in the pond, that becomes self maintaing equilibrium. Isn't it life-long task? It may take years to achieve it. My pond is 3 years old and didn't manage to get the fish friendly, self-maintaining pond.

Usually during 'pond-despair', the first thought comes to my mind is 'let's fill it up with soil and plant something nice'. Second thought.... 'this is FOR ME most important part of my garden, so lets help it'. 'Algae will not win!'

My husband who dug this pond with his musician's hands, so you may imagine how big place this pond has won in his heart, after examining the situation first said 'let's fill it up with soil'. I know, after being his wife for 8 years, that he doesn't mean it. I need to survive that period, then it gets only better.

Here at 'Ewa in the Garden' very, very rarely we use any chemical weapon. We believe, that there is always better cure, but only we are not aware of it. What you need to do is search for better, more friendly solution.
Why to search for radical solutions if basics are not done properly - this was our conclusion.

What basics you will ask.... Basics for how to get rid of algae in the pond are covered by

3 P = Peat/Pump/Plants

P1. Peat - Acidic peat in the filter - vital component of the filtering layers, because it contains humic acids that algae is allergic to. Looking into the filter showed that peat is old, from previous season. It turned into soil in last few months, so definitely stopped working. I had to search for acidic peat, but special one: clean and without any extras inside. One available in garden shops, lets call it 'generic peat' for garden usage, can't be used for filter, because it usually contains also fertilisers that can only make the situation worse. I found in pond section proper peat and placed it in such way, that it makes 5-8 cm thick layer, so all filtered water can flow through.

Acidic peat contains humic acid - "natural acidic organic polymer that can be extracted from humus found in soil, sediment, or aquatic environments" (Brittanica).

P2. Water pump - has to be strong enough to pump through all water in the pond in 1-2 hours. We new, that the pump we have bought at the beginning was only on the edge - turning water in the pond during 3-4 hours. Considering all problems we have with the pond, we have decided to buy proper one. The best choice was was atman ph4000, turning 5000 liters in 1 hour, able to pump the water up to 3,40 m, consuming 81 watt, priced 70$.

P3. Plants - I finally decided to plant pondweed (Elodea canadensis) - it grows fast enough to help to establish bio-balance in the pond. I made serious mistake at very beginning to let in grass carp - a fish that is a weed in the pond. I found in aquarium shop pondweed's seedlings and bought 2 of them - do you think it is enough?

After making all these improvements, we were looking forward to see whether anything is changing there or we need to improve something more. There was no change in first week, but in the second, water started to get more clear. Situation is getting better every day. It really works. Look by yourself:

after acidic peat treatment .......................................................... 2 weeks before treatment

Have a nice long weekend!

Similar topics:

Top 10 Most Beautiful Pictures of Garden Pond

Beautiful Garden Pond

Cleaning My Garden Fish Pond

Top 10 Most Beautiful Water Gardens Pictures - Inspirational Monday

Today I start a series of post "Inspirational Monday". Monday is a good day to get inspired :) and plan new things. What you think?
Today's topic Water Gardens, as this is really lovely feature in the garden, and as Money Magazine was writing, the best feature to enhance the property value.
Enjoy!

Picture by vtveen

Picture by Richard Lowkes

Picture by Markles55

Picture by camra_art

Picture by rumpleproofskin

Picture by shemacgo

Picture by Jason-Morrison

Picture by richtyea

Picture by montanaraven

Picture by **Mary**

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