How to make a water feature out of a half-barrel planter
lisa June 19th, 2007
I’ve been wanting to make a water feature for a while now, but being a thrifty soul, I was looking for an inexpensive method. Here’s what I ended up doing.
First, I took a plastic half-barrel planter that someone gave me for free a few years ago, and measured the drainage holes that were in the bottom. I picked up some rubber hole plugs from the hardware store (something like these) for about 75 cents each, and pounded them into the holes. One of the holes was leaking a bit, so I used silicone sealant around that one.
Then I made sure that the barrel held water by filling it up and letting it sit for a week. I added 1/4 of a mosquito dunk to keep the skeeters from breeding there.
Today, I visited New England Nurseries and got a few water plants. The barrel is now planted with three perennial aquatics and an annual water hyacinth…
The copper piece is a rain chain that my mother gave me a couple of years ago and that I absolutely love. Unfortunately, the welding is really crappy and it keeps falling apart, which is appalling considering how much it cost. Mark keeps soldering it back together for me, but I’m getting pretty fed up with the whole thing. I’m thinking about trying a different system to connect the lily pieces…
PS This site has some other ideas for half-barrel water features.