Well, I filled up two half barrels this past weekend and got some plants in.
So far, so good! I bought a hardy water lily and two marginals for each
one. I chose not to use a liner since they seem to hold water pretty well
without it. There were some leaks initially, but once the slats expanded,
the leaks disappeared. I"m trying to acquire some other plants to balance
things out, but I live in Maine and am running into fairly restrictive laws
about what plants I can buy! I think I'll follow that up in a new thread
and see if I can get any more tips.

Brian


"infoseeker" reply by post thx wrote in message
...
Are you using your barrels as soil planters or as water gardens? I
started
a water garden in mine a bit over a week ago. I'd be interested in
hearing
your progress, etc...

Good luck!

"Brian" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all of your responses! I guess I'll stick with my barrel
planters this summer and see if I can learn enough (and save enough
money)
to think about a pond for next summer. I'm in Maine USA, so solar power
seems really iffy and the pond-installing season is short as well.

Brian


"Brian" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm
going
to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to
start
off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most
intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical
requirements.
Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an
electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option
is
appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or
filter.
One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I
haven't
seen
others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems
like
that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment.
Yet
I
haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered
items,
with
the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more
people
use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate
for
the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if
anyone
is
using solar power and how they have things set up.

Thanks,
Brian