Water Gardening

If you have the space to incorperate a pond within you garden this is an excellent way of getting close to nature. Once dug (and lined in most cases with a good pond liner) there are a wide variety of plants you can incorperate within it. Decorative lilies, reeds and oxygenating plants (to keep your water clear) are common examples of water plants. You'll be suprised how quickly these plants will adapt and flourish with less tending needed than with conventional gardens. You will have tending duties to participate in however, though this will mainly be limited to clearing your pond of over flourishing plants and fallen leaves. The real thrill of ponds is when water creatures start inhabiting them and you'll be suprised at how quickly this can happen. when I was a child, my father, as an experiment filled a standard aquarium with water and added a pint of water which was sourced from his establised pond. The water from the pond appeared a little cloudy, but other than this, no real sign of life was apparent. Within weeks the aquarium ( which did have a sprig of oxygenating pond plant added) had larvae, developing insects which included a comparitively large dragonfly larvae. Once we'd seen these results we emptyed the aquarium and its wild contents back to the pond of which the initial pond water was sourced, and now many moons on, creatures that are descended from those insects are swimming around as we speak. Should you develop even a small pond, you will get the chance to witness a self sustaining ecosystem at work. As always your own individual situation will dictate what plants/ponds are right for you, reading up on the subject is a good idea and there are many books availiable on the market for important research.

One last note on all forms of gardening, the rewards you encounter will be judged on the amount of time and energy you spend nurturing your knowledge of plants, but if you find you take to gardening well the effort will be well worth it!