You don't need a lot of space for a miniature water garden. Perennial gardener Susanne Spatz-Behmenburg shows how to create a mini pond in a bucket. Including the right aquatic plants. Step by step to the mini pond The container Susanne Spatz-Behmenburg chose a zinc tub. A mason's bucket or a sawn-through wine barrel would also work. Sealing is important. An old wine barrel usually remains sufficiently tight due to the swollen wood. The advantage: if the barrel is made of oak, the wood secretes tannic acid, which keeps algae at bay. A zinc tub is usually also tight, otherwise pond liner helps. You can also visit us here: Querbeet on the Internet: https://www.br.de/br-fernsehen/sendun... Querbeet on Facebook: / querbeet.br Querbeet on Instagram: / querbeet.br The right location A partially shaded location is best. The reason: in zinc tubs in particular, the water heats up very quickly and algae forms. The mini pond should be built at its final location straight away. Susanne Spatz-Behmenburg has placed her zinc tub on the east side of the house. It is sunny here in the mornings and partially shaded to shady in the afternoons. What you need for a mini pond In addition to the right container, Susanne Spatz-Behmenburg needs plants, suitable soil, plant baskets, clean bricks, pebbles and dead wood for her mini pond. The substrate The perennial gardener uses loamy soil for her mini pond. This is low in nutrients and quite firm, so it does not float. There are also special pond soils available on the market. A substrate that is low in nutrients is important, otherwise too much algae would form. The plants Different plants are suitable depending on the size of the container. Susanne Spatz-Behmenburg has opted for native plants. In the swamp zone, frog's-bit (Alisma plantago-aquatica), mare's-tail (Hippuris vulgaris) and marsh gladiolus (Gladiolus palustris) are to grow. They feel comfortable in a water depth of 0-20 cm. Therefore, the perennial gardener places the three plants in a planting basket, which she then places on one of the bricks. In the deepest place she places a water lily (Nymphaea 'Michael Berthold'). This can tolerate a water depth of 30-50 cm. Finally, hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) ends up in the bucket. A floating plant that also cleans the water. There are more ideas for garden design in the ARD Mediathek: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/que... Filling up The mini pond is best filled with rainwater or stale tap water. The plants feel most comfortable when the pH value is between 6 and 8.5. After filling the water, the water is still slightly cloudy, but after a while the suspended matter has settled. Care Zinc tubs in particular can heat up quickly in summer, which in turn encourages algae growth. This should be fished out regularly. Water lilies are sensitive to frost. They should overwinter in a bucket of water in the cellar. Frog's-bit, mare's tail and marsh gladiolus are generally not affected by frost. They can spend the winter in the tub. If the plants grow too much, they are cut back. After about three years, the plants are so big that they should be divided. Finally, Susanne Spatz-Behmenburg fills two more small tubs with loamy soil. One is planted with edible perennials, namely watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and water mint (Mentha aquatica). The second tub focuses on flowers; Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), marsh iris (Iris pseudacorus) and moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) grow in it.