WATER GARDENING BHT307

How do you design a water garden?
How do you build a beautiful water garden?
How do you maintain a water garden?

 

Develop your skills in designing, constructing and maintaining a variety of different types of water gardens.
 
Learn to Use Water in a Garden Design
 
Water gardens can be simple or complex, large or small, and in a huge variety of styles. Depending on the theme or style of the garden you might perhaps decide to have straight-edged or geometrical designs for a formal garden, smooth curved designs for a modern garden, or irregular-shaped designs for less formal and natural-style gardens. You might choose to have a single pond or a series of ponds with water cascading from one to another. As you work through this course and look at different styles of water gardens, you will find there are many possibilities, any of which will enhance your garden. This is the prime opportunity to start your own business in creating water gardens.

Learn all about Water Gardens and Water Features in the Landscape

 

COURSE STRUCTURE

There are eight lessons as follows:

1. Introduction: Scope & Nature of water features, water quality, plants & animals in water, etc.

2. Construction

3. Equipment: Pumps, Lights, Filters etc.

4. Ponds, watercourses, bog gardens, dams -Design & Aftercare.

5. Spas and Swimming Pools -Design & After care

6. Water Features -Indoor & Outdoor -Fountains, Waterfalls, Fish tanks, ponds etc

7. Water Plants

8. Aquatic Animals

Aims

  • Understand the nature and scope of water gardens.
  • Identify and describe generic construction materials and techniques suitable for water gardens and pools.
  • Select appropriate equipment for use with water features.
  • Specify the design and construction of a pond or watercourse.
  • Specify the design, construction and maintenance of a spa or swimming pool.
  • Specify the design & construction of a Water Feature other than a pond or water course.
  • Identity the water plants commonly used in water gardens.
  • Identify a variety of aquatic animals suitable for water gardens, and their requirements

Duration: 100 hours


Wildlife -Good and Bad - in the Water Garden

Water supports all life. In the garden it increases biodiversity.

The presence of water can very easily and often provide a welcoming environment to ‘life’. Life can appear in the form of bacteria, fungi, vegetation, insects, and of course, animals. These all form a type of ecosystem that can be very attractive for a water garden atmosphere. Although we are not fully aware of the intriguing nature and how its ecosystem evolves, keeping your garden free of harmful chemicals as well as creating the right habitats and conditions for wildlife can bring a continuous interaction among these creatures and provide the essentials for their food chain.

Attracting Wildlife

The presence of water and sunlight will inevitably help the appearance and growth of phytoplankton and other larger forms of vegetation, which in turn will gather a variety of insects or invertebrates (e.g. spiders, butterflies, beetles, flies, snails, worms, crustaceans, mollusks), leaving space for the arrival of superior animals such as birds, fish, frogs, toads, hedgehogs, snakes, turtles and ducks, among many others depending on the fauna of your country or region. 

Attracting wildlife can be very inspiring and exciting, however it is sensible to keep in mind that just as animals and insects may bring colour and life to your garden, they can also open the doors to the presence of pests and diseases. Conversely, allowing predators and parasites to inhabit your garden can undoubtedly promote the right conditions to maintain a well-balanced nature reserve and support the wellbeing of the animals and plants of your water garden. As long as there is food (e.g. vegetation, soil, invertebrates) and water, there will be a space for many living creatures to bathe in, find shelter, co-exist, breed, sleep, eat and drink.

It is advisable to check for laws and regulations in your country with respect to having certain animals in your home environment or garden. In some countries, you will need a special licence to allow certain animals in a domestic environment, in others there are no requirements specified, while in many other parts of the world it is illegal to have some as pets (for example, in some American states it is against the law to have a hedgehog as a pet, but in many European countries there may be no restrictions towards this). 

Fish

Many animals interact with each other and create a balanced ecosystem. This helps to maintain the water environment enabling it to cycle naturally in a healthy way. There may be co-operation between some species which benefits, one way or another, the needs of those species. For example, phytoplankton feed off sunlight and carbon dioxide which are combined, releasing oxygen as a by-product. This oxygen is used by the fish or other water inhabitants. The fish release urine and faeces (nitrogen content) which is absorbed as nutrients by the plants. The presence of plants may be used as food by ducks or turtles in a pond, and their wastes can be taken in by detritivores present in the water.

Invertebrates such as dragonflies and water beetles are generally attracted to the surface of the water, whereas animals such as frogs and toads may ramble towards the ponds from other damp areas nearby.

Different fish have different water quality and feeding requirements. For example, some fish survive better in warmer weather while others prefer cooler habitats; some fish may thrive better in the presence of direct sunlight, while others will develop better with shade during most parts of the day