Water Gardens for Wildlife

I read in one of my edible landscape books about the advantages of water gardens in your edible garden.  Water gardens help to attract and keep beneficial insects and wildlife, as well as provide a water source to wildlife in the area.  In some cases, providing a water source for the local critters to get a drink will help keep them out of your juicy fruit.

A water garden will help to attract dragonflies, frogs, bees, birds.  I've even had praying mantis come to the water garden.  I love my pond, but a water garden can also be very simple.

This small water garden is a plastic "half barrel" planter.  It is old, and had been used as a planter, so I used silicon glue to seal up all the small holes.  Any plastic or metal water tight container will work fine as a water garden.

I dug out a hole in the middle of my prime veggie garden to sink the planter into.  I had wanted to sink it so that the rim was just a few inches above ground level.  I ran into utility service wires were I wanted the planter to be centered, so I just stopped.  This planter is buried about 8".

There is no electrical supply to this garden, so I wanted it partially buried to help moderate the water temperature.    Water plants in the garden and flowering plants and herbs around the outside provide a lot of vegetation that also help to moderate the water temperature.

A complete covering of living plant life floating on the water will help decrease evaporation and make it pretty and interesting.

Water plants can be as exotic or practical as you want.  In this small water garden I have a "Yellow Pygmy" hardy water lily and Water Poppy.  I'm thinking of adding a "Dauben" tropical water lily.  With water lilies, you have to make sure you are getting a lily that is suited to growing in small containers.  I then added several bunches of floating blooming oxygenator's.  Bacopa, Cabomba, Rotala, Wisteria are some examples.  With the summer heat and full sun, a nice covering of algae took over.  I've let it be, as it helps keep down evaporation and gives the fish and wildlife something to eat.

I've gotten most of my oxygenator's from Petsmart.  Lily's and Poppy's I've been ordering as there isn't a good local source.  Well, take that back.  Florida water ways are home to many aquatic plants that would do well in a small water garden.  I think about foraging, then I look over at my walking sticks and think better.

Central Florida?  Hello mosquito!  Mosquito control can be handled with fish and/or mosquito dunks.  When I sat this water garden up, I used dunks until the water was conditioned for fish.  I continued to use dunks for a bit until the fish and wildlife settled in.  I've not had to use dunks for a few months now.  I've got a couple of .13c feeder goldfish that are doing just fine.  Summer heat and all.

Oh, for fish, it is a good idea to put some hidey hole places in for them.  I've got a few short pieces of PVC pipe in the bottom for them to hide in.  And you don't need to feed them.  In fact, you don't want to feed them.  And you want a low number of fish.  This small garden has two fish.

I've also got a clear plastic water pitcher stashed to one side for those times in the garden that I see a plant needing a bit of extra water.  And periodically I'll harvest a bunch of the floating algae for a plant that needs a bit of TLC. 

I just love walking in the garden, I always see dragonflies and bees.  Lately, a Southern Leopard Frog has moved in.  It amazes me that the frogs can jump in and out of a raised water garden.

This fall I am experimenting with growing people eating lettuce floating on the top of this water garden.  I've got one little lettuce experiment going.  It is a Tom Thumb Butterhead that I planted up from it's seedling pot.  I started out with plastic lid.  Cut a small hole in the center.  The plastic lid idea was fail, too much water on the plant.  I've switched over to styrofoam which is working better.  The plant is held up above the water, yet the roots are dangling in the water from a small hole I made.  I have high hopes for my low-input hydroponic leaf lettuce!

I've thought that if I could ever get a community garden plot for some of the things I would like to grow in full sun (beefsteak tomatoes, lima beans) that I would use a water tank in the plot.  As I've read, most community plots are 4' by some length.  At one end, north or whatever, I could put a 2x2x4 100 gallon water trough.

It would collect rain water, as well I suppose I could add some tap water.  Growing lettuce on floating styrofoam and hook up an electronic timer to drip water my plants several times a day.

Many of the electronic timers are pretty sophisticated with the available settings.  Being able to program to water tomatoes by way of drip system two or three times daily I think would be great.   Help to reduce the amount of time traveling off to a community garden.  Or handy for home gardeners with full time out of the home jobs.

This is an Orbit Digital Timer that I think might be nice.  Take the bung hole out the tank, and replace it with a MPT PVC connector.  I would probably mount this timer sideways.  And use all  1/2" PVC.  Use a T so that a water line goes down both sides of the length of the plot.  Drill small holes in the places you want to drip water.  I wouldn't use drippers, too likely to fail.

I would however, on the inside of the tank put a filter on the bung hole.  Not a foot valve, those slow down gravity flow too much.  Something like a bulkhead fitting filter.  They are called all sorts of things:  filter, strainer, screen.  Something to keep as much grit out of the water line as possible.

But, I digress into dream land.

 Water gardens can be a simple barrel in the midst of the garden, an entry way statement, or a peaceful spot off the deck.  Whatever you chose, when you build a water garden .... wildlife will come.

This ones for you Chrissy, may there be many pollinators visiting your garden!