Our first water garden at Talking Leaves is a whiskey barrel. We purchased a half whiskey barrel for $20 and a hard plastic liner for $25. Fill with water, add plants and stand back!
I measured the inside diameter of the whiskey barrel liner at 24 inches. Height was 14 inches. I figure it holds approximately 27 gallons of water (3.14 x 1 x 1.143 x 7.5) and is about four cubic feet of water.
At present we do not have a pump going into the barrel. The plan is to see if we can establish a self supporting eco system without electricity by adding four bunches of anacharis plants, and a couple of potted plants.
We set up the whiskey barrel garden in the fall of 1996. The anacharis I purchased from a pet store grew in size, even though it was fall. It also did fine throughout our winter. I recommend buying pet store plants and growing them in whiskey barrels until you have your main pond in. Remember, it will take a lot of plants to properly stock a pond. Unfortunately, after two years the anachris just disappeared. Perhaps it has a natural life span. I next tried Parrot's Feather. It is doing fine.
Last revised June 4. 2000.
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