Forum home Plants

Pond in a bucket

sandyvsandyv Posts: 113

July RHS magazine describes creating a pond in a bucket, and says you can keep nymphea waterlilies in it, but how much depth of water would one need? Is a bucket really sufficient?

Last edited: 29 June 2016 21:59:38

Posts

  • pansyfacepansyface Posts: 22,741

    I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF THE QUESTION - WHEN IS A BUCKET OF WATER NOT A BUCKET OF WATER AND WHEN IS A POND A POND?

    WHAT MAKES A POND? I WOULD SAY WILDLIFE. AND WILDLIFE NEEDS CERTAIN CONDITIONS. 

    WILDLIFE NEEDS A STATE OF CONTINUITY. CONTINUITY OF TEMPERATURE, NUTRITION, ACIDITY/ALKALINITY AND ACCESS TO AND FROM THE SURROUNDING AREA.

    A BUCKET OF WATER IS TOO SMALL TO ENSURE CONTINUITY OF TEMPERATURE. IT WILL FREEZE IN WINTER AND BOIL IN SUMMER. NUTRITION - IT IS TOO SMALL NOT TO GET CLOGGED WITH MATERIAL AND WILL BECOME ANEROBIC VERY QUICKLY. ACIDITY - FALLEN LEAVES WILL CHANGE THIS. ACCESS - A BUCKET HAS VERY STEEP SIDES WHICH ARE LIKELY TO TRAP SMALL ANIMALS AND INVERTEVRATES LEAVING THEM TO DROWN.

    NO, A BUCKET DOES NOT MAKE A GOOD POND.

    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
    If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
  • endpaperendpaper Posts: 27

    It's an interesting question because Pansyface is right, you wouldn't be making a pond in the normal sense of the word, but the idea of pond-in-bucket *is* all over the place (bbc, gardeners' world, rhs, etc etc) so it seems like you can make *something*, but seems like it's not exactly a pond, and not something that would naturally survive - gardener's world says put it in a greenhouse over winter - recomfirming Pansyface's point about temperature issues....

    What is it that actually interests you? Is it the waterlilies that you want or the wildlife - or just the idea of having water in a small space?

Sign In or Register to comment.