Many gardeners would love to have a pond in their garden, but if there are young children around the safety aspects of creating a full-scale pond are unrealistic. However you can have a good compromise, by creating a container water fountain. Although you could focus on water movement, plant lovers prefer some greenery and flower present.

You don’t need a large body of water to grow pond plants - any water tight container that will hold more than 4 gallons (two average-sized watering cans) of water will be sufficient to support a few pond plants - ideal if you are working with a small space or just want to experiment before taking the plunge with a full size pond.

Depending on the container, you can create a rustic look, or use more modern materials for a contemporary style - we recently saw an old claw footed bathtub planted up with a range of marginal plants and water lilies. The majority of pond plants prefer a period of several hours direct sunlight and this will need to be considered when siting your display. Placing under overhanging branches should be avoided as autumn leaf fall can contaminate the water.

The barrel used here obviously held whisky - the car smelt like a distillery by the time we’d got it home from the garden centre! As such we’ve lined it with pond liner to prevent any chemicals or alcohol residue seeping out of the wood into the water. If you’re looking to add a new group of plants to your garden why not get water gardening this week?