DIY Network

Freestanding Water Garden Plant your own potted pond. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-162

Portable ponds fit everyone's space and budget.

Water gardens and ponds can be wonderful additions to any yard—but they can require a lot of space, upkeep and initial expense.

Michele Beschen has a solution, though—a freestanding water garden that's perfect for anyone with limited space or budget. The B. Original host uses a jumbo glazed pot instead of digging a pond to house her plantings, making her mini-garden easy to care for and easy on the wallet.

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Freestanding Water Garden

Materials:

large glazed pot
two-part epoxy putty
caulk
pottery sealer
cement blocks, bricks
small pond pump
small stones
plants
mesh pond baskets
burlap

	Figure A
	Figure B

• Seal up the pot's drainage hole with two-part epoxy putty. Push putty into the drainage hole from the inside of the pot and from the outside. The putty dries rock hard, so you can simply drill through it if you decide you want a drainage hole again.

• Use caulk around the drainage hole to further seal it. If the pot is very porous, you may want to seal the entire inside with a sealant suitable for pottery or tile.

• Stack cement blocks and bricks in the pot so your plants can sit at different levels (figure A).

• Add pond plants (figure B). Michele Beschen likes to re-pot hers in mesh pond baskets lined with burlap and cover the aquatic soil with small stones. The stones also help keep the plants weighed down.

• Install a small pond pump in the middle of the pot.

Now you have a water garden that can go anywhere you do. It's a refreshing way to B. Original!