Does your wish list of garden must-haves outweigh the amount of space you actually have? Before striking anything off, give this neat idea a whirl – it’s a kitchen garden, pond and water feature rolled into one!
WATCH: 3 quick veggie patch jobs
While growing a herb and veggie patch in water may seem like tricky business, it’s actually a walk in the park. Just add edible aquatic plants to a large, wide, waterproof pot, pop in a few goldfish (their manure will help supply nutrients to the plants), and away you go. Now you really can have your pond and eat it, too!
First things first
Re-pot aquatic plants in a soil mix that’s half potting mix and half sand. Use propagating sand, which is washed and doesn’t contain any salts. Remove each plant from its original pot, fill the bottom of the new pot with soil mix, place the plant root ball inside and backfill. Insert a fertiliser tablet at the side of each pot, then top-dress with a layer of gravel or small pebbles – this will stop the soil mix from floating and dirtying the pond water.
Gather your supplies
• Large, wide, waterproof pot
• Bricks or pavers
• Aquatic plants
You’ll also need
Goldfish or fish of choice; Aquapro Treatment & Conditioner; fairy moss (Azolla sp.); pebbles; fish tank scoop
Notes
1. If your pond pot has drainage holes, fill them with Selleys Knead It Aqua.
2. If you already have a pot but it’s unglazed terracotta, apply pond sealer paint to the inside.
Here’s how…
Step 1
Position pot in a sunny spot away from any large trees. Place bricks/pavers inside pot, forming a circle around outer edge of the base.
Step 2
Fill inside of brick circle with pebbles, spreading over bricks on 1 side – this will stagger height of plants. Position potted water plants on bricks/pavers, with taller plants at back and shorter plants at front, making sure tops of plant containers sit below lip of pot.
Step 3
Fill pot with water until all plant containers are fully submerged. Add water treatment and conditioner, following manufacturer’s instructions.
Step 4
To acclimatise fish, carefully place fish bag in pond and leave to float for 10 minutes. Open bag, add a cup of pond water, then leave to float for a further 10 minutes. Add another cup of pond water, then leave to float for 5 minutes. Scoop fish from bag and release into pond – don’t pour the fish from bag.
Step 5
Decorate pond by floating fairy moss on top of water, taking care not to cover more than half of pond – this will also help protect fish and clean the water. Scoop and remove clumps as it grows and spreads.
The final result
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