When designing a water feature never forget the elements that add suggestion, even if they are visually subliminal. I enjoy Japanese style water gardening (and landscaping) because it fits in small spaces. You can make your own artistic representation of anything in small scale, Japanese rock gardens will fit in many places.

My Japanese rock garden - I added the new elements (pictured below) to my whiskey barrel water garden theme.

How-to: I made a mountainous region out of various shapes of rock that looks like a volcano with ornamental grass bursting over the top. Below the mountain is a sandier piece of flat rock (I got from a local gravel pit) that represents the lowlands. I added a few rounded rocks (I picked up at a beach) to soften the jagged edges of the landscape to bring balance. All these elements blend into this water feature…making the scenery complete.

I ripped out my pond liner waterfall and replaced it with a more complex whiskey barrel garden theme. If you look at the first video below you get the basic idea of how it works. In the first box to the left (yellow recycled cat food container) is a pump and a few filter media pads for course debris removal. In the second box above the first (white recycled kitty litter container) is a UV filter and bio-media for nitrate reducing bacteria. After the second box, the water is pumped up to the left side of the whiskey barrel where it rises and flows out a nice, old bung spigot (I picked up on eBay) and into a lined half barrel with filter plants and gravel. The water then flows out a pipe and into the pond…back into the pump box and around the water goes. When I put in some plants the mud dirtied my water, but after just a few hours it was crystal clear again. With active bacteria thriving in the UV filter box, on the the gravel, the sides of the plastic tubs and even inside the whiskey barrel… this barrel water feature should be maintenance free for the entire summer!

Whiskey Barrel Garden Parts - In the following video you can view the circular chain with filtration and pumping.

Completed Whiskey Barrel Garden

Notes: If you increase the size of the pump box and UV filter/bio-media box you could add another 80 gallons of water to the system, what would this do? With more water you have a healthier environment for fish, frogs and turtles. Hidden, in-ground pump and filter boxes also cool the water. I plan to make this system more consumer friendly and install it locally in Massachusetts as part of a water gardening service. I will also offer it online as a complete kit, barrels are my business, need some? Talk to me!