Spring and fall are great times to establish a water feature in your yard. You don’t need a ton of space, or know-how to create a diverting water feature that can house fish, and you can make one more easily than you think!

The barrel water garden is a quick way to incorporate a water garden in a small space. I borrowed this idea from a gentleman at the local community garden, who created this clever zen motif with only a few materials! 

What You Need To Create This:

• One 20-24 inch wide half barrel (new, or vineyard recycled)
• One and a half quarts of “Pond Armor” pond shield and epoxy
• One 2 inch paintbrush
• One sheet of 60 grit sandpaper
• A leveling tool
• One large narrow stone for the focal point (available from stone specialty stores)
• River Rocks (enough to cover the slope you create around the barrel)
• Two four foot Bamboo planting stakes
• Topsoil as needed
• A saw to cut the Bamboo into segments

I found this great light read recently on everything pond related, and made sure to add it to my gardening shelf! This hard-cover book, An Essential Guide to Choosing Your Pond Fish and Aquatic Plants, is 80 glossy pages of photos and tips guaranteed to help you build and run a successful pond or water feature, and take your water gardening skills to the next level buy introducing you to a wider variety of fish and plant life to build a dynamic backyard ecosystem!

Covering topics ranging from water feature creation, plant selection, fish varieties, and DIY tips for the weekend water gardener, this book is thorough and written simply and concisely. The format is easy to read, but with an information pool of a much larger book. The chapters are broken down by topic, and each point is illustrated thoroughly through detailed photographs and step by step instructions, or one sentence tips in the photo margins. The basic pond topics are expanded to provide new information for every level of water gardener, while not overwhelming the novice. The writing and visual style of this book is unique, as it alternates between classic paragraph style and and almost scrapbook feel on pages heavier in photography, with tips and pointers artistically arranged around diagrams and pictures.

This book is a great resource for every water gardener, and one that I recommend for the home library for quick topical searches. I particularly appreciated the full page spreads dedicated to the needs and habits of pond fish varieties, and the section on pond and bog plants that included many native plants unmentioned in other pond resources I have read! Check it out today at your local library or on amazon, and create a beautiful water feature around your home or apartment.

Going “green” with your backyard pond this year can mean a cleaner conscience, and a cleaner pond!  Of course, no one likes a green pond, when the “green” we are talking about is string algae, and pond scum!  Aside from taking away from the aesthetics of your tranquil oasis, dealing with algae means constant additions of safe chemicals that won’t harm your pond plants and fish, and cleaning both filters and rocks on a regular basis.

After years of balancing the chemical ratios in several of the ponds that I oversee professionally, and struggling to keep algae under control in a few ponds that were constructed poorly, I finally made the switch to Barley Bales this past summer, and I’m never looking back.  While I am always looking for cleaner and greener products, I confess, most often I’m just looking for a product that makes life easier!  Barley Bales are a long lasting, fish and plant safe, chemical alternative, for keeping algae out of your pond or water-garden.

How Barley Bales Work: Barley, more so than other hays and straws, gives off stable levels of Hydrogen Peroxide, when decomposing in water, and interacting with sunlight, and oxygen.  Hydrogen Peroxide kills new algae growth and creates a hostile environment for many types of biological sludge as well.  Bales give you up to six months of cleaning power before they start to loose their potency and begin to sink, after which time you can place the bale out to dry and work again later, or discard.  This greener method of pond cleaning has been used for hundreds of years, and appears to actually benefit fish colonies, and aquatic  plants.

What To Look For: If you are shopping for a Barley Ball, or bundle, I suggest looking for a reputable retailer firstly, who is required to sell you a solidly Barley bundle, without it being thinned with hay, which is less potent, but has some effectiveness.  Secondly, avoid very tightly bunched products, or those in a mesh or panty-hose type dispenser.  Waterflow is key both around and through your Barley product.  Meshes with tiny openings, and overly bundled balls will prevent water from moving through and producing the Hydrogen Peroxide you are looking for to kill the algae in your pond.

Bags Or Bundles: I suggest you look for bundles rather than balls for the simple reason that freshly dried Barley floats in water, and with balls, most of the Barley you paid for is bobbing in the sun, away from your precious pond.  What’s the point of a cute container for your Barley, if the Barley isn’t working for you?  Another point for Barley Bundles as opposed to Balls is this, Oxygen is key in both creating the Hydrogen Peroxide, and distributing it through the pond.  A flow of water around, and through your Barley bag will maximize the cleaning potential, and to this end, bags and bundles of Barley are easier to lay unobserved in a pump or filter box, and will have a greater effectiveness through your overall pond in those locations.

Prepping Your Pond For Barley: Yes, there is a little prep work involved in getting prepared for your newest (and future favorite) pond cleaner.  Sources do not agree on how effective your Barley cleaner will be with large esablished patches of Algae, so the best way to set yourself up for success is with a little prep cleaning.  Make sure to rake out, and otherwise clean up major algae blooms in your pond before setting your new Barley in.  Then, sit back and watch your Barley return the favor for months longer than chemical products ever did.

I highly recommend Barley products to homeowners, and landscape managers, as a natural way to cut down on unpleasant plant life in your waterfeatures.  Not only will it take some items off your weekly chore list, with cleaner filter boxes overall, but it will cut down on the money and time you spend with chemical additives!  The bonus with Barley is that unlike chemicals, which will follow a natural cycle of evaporation along with your pond water, the bundles remain in your pond, and are continually active for a longer period of time on average.

For a great read on Barley Bundles and Balls, check out this article titled The Truth and Facts About Barley Balls

Your Thoughts:  Have you used Barley Balls or Barley Bundles?  Did they work well for you in your pond?  Would you recommend them to your online neighbors?