Water Gardens

In quite small gardens, much may be achieved by the use of tubs in which to grow collections of aquatics. Ingenuity will overcome many obstacles,   and there are few places in which a small water garden such as is contemplated in this section may not be succesful.

At first sight, a tub may not seem a particularly desirable object in which to grow even a small Water ­Lily. If the tubs form part of a definite garden scheme, their identity will be carefully concealed.

I have in mind a small garden of bog and water, which has been constructed at very small cost, and which might well serve as a model for others. 

Practically no skilled labour was required in its making, whilst the area it occupies - some fourteen yards by three - could easily be spared in the majority of gardens. Few would imagine on seeing this charm­ing spot, that it has only been in existence a short time, or that the site was formerly a strip of waste ground overrun with nettles and coarse grass. With slight modification this water garden could be made almost anywhere, so that I shall describe it in detail.

At the end of the flower garden, a small planting of mixed shrubs occurs, these are of the usual type, and consist chiefly of laurels. Along one side of this shrubbery a pathway led down to a small paddock, which it is intended later to convert into an orchard. The sides of the path were bordered with rough margins of waste ground, which through neglect had become over-run with weeds, and had also served as a convenient place in which to put rubbish, stack turf and erect a few frames.

Altogether it was thoroughly unsightly. The owner saw possibilities of improve­ment, and after some thought decided on turning it into a bog and water garden. Unfortunately, there is not a stream or pond on the property, and as expense was a consideration, nothing very elaborate was planned.

In the first place, the ground was thoroughly cleaned, and a new pathway made along the side furthest from the shrubbery. This provided a strip of ground some four yards wide and fifteen long between the path edge and the line of shrubs. As it was not considered advis­able that the bog garden should extend close up to the laurels, it is nowhere more than nine feet wide, and in some places even less.

Having marked out the site, the next step was to remove the soil to a depth of two feet. This proved a somewhat heavy task, but the advisability of having the bog and water plants sunk well below the general ground level, made a certain amount of spade and barrow work necessary. With the soil removed, high banks interspersed with rockwork were made at either end. These served to screen and shelter the bog garden, and also provided a home for many delightful plants.

Six large petroleum casks were then procured, each being sawn in half. The tubs were well charred inside, in order to render them as durable as possible, the oil which had soaked into the wood acting as an additional preservative against decay. Down the length of the bog garden holes were excavated of sufficient size to sink the casks level with the rims.

The holes were dug at about seven feet apart, and were arranged at irregular distances from the path, so that the tubs did not form a straight line. As the ground sloped naturally to the lower end, each tub, when sunk in position, was slightly lower than its predecessor: on the level, it would have been necessary to provide a fall by digging the holes deeper in succession.

A somewhat better effect would have been obtained had the tubs, or rock pools as they now appear, been spaced more irregularly. As it is, there is practically the same interval between each. Two tubs close together, then a third at treble the distance, followed by a cluster of three, would probably have produced a more natural result.

A bricklayer was now instructed to connect the line of tubs by a small watercourse, in this case, merely a shallow cemented channel. This did not run straight from tub to tub, but followed a slightly winding direction. The water supply was obtained from the mains, and was carried down to the entrance of the bog garden through ordinary iron piping. Before use, it was allowed to stand for some hours in a large open cistern, so that it became slightly warmed.

Suitable containers for aquatics had now been pro­vided, and a plan worked out whereby the water in the tubs could be renewed as often as necessary. All that remained was to lay out the garden, and conceal as far as possible the unsightly channel and the regular circles formed by the tub edges.

More digging was necessary, and a further eighteen inches of soil removed. Fortunately building operations had been in progress, and several cart-loads of broken bricks, mortar rubbish, and general debris were available. A good layer of drainage material was thus provided, and above it was spread a foot deep of peaty loam. The surface was made as irregular as possible, rising in small hillocks and ridges from the watercourse.

The symmetrical appearance of the latter was then masked by rough stones, so placed that they produced an impression of water flowing along a small rocky channel. In two places the minia­ture stream was bridged by flat boulders.

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