The decision to use standard garden lights or solar garden lights comes down to everyones individual situation, skill set, and budget. Here are some points to keep in mind when sizing up your options between using solar garden lights, or standard garden lights (those that require a power source via cable.)

Solar Garden Lights are a lot easier to get set up. Why? Because there’s no cables to deal with, that’s why! All it takes is purchasing them and then placing them in the garden, taking care to make sure the solar panels (either built into the lights or running attached with a small cord) are placed in such a way to capture direct sunlight. That is all it’s going to take to power the lights, and this means it’s very easy for everyone involved.

Standard Garden Lights are harder to set up. You could run a cable on top of the ground, but that would look ridiculous. Instead, you’ll need to properly bury or at least strategically conceal the power cables. This means digging and manuevering. It might also mean some kind of electrical skills as you tweak the light set up for your garden. What this offers in trade is the ability to have a lot more control over where the lights are placed, since the cables can be routed anywhere under the ground, and no light source is not in any way related to being exposed to the sun to capture solar energy.

Another factor between these two options is the price and cost of each type of lighting. Solar garden lights cost more than standard garden lights. However, the big selling point here is that you will spend zero dollars powering them. Year after year will pass and you will have garden lights on, and will not spend a penny on keeping them on. But at the same time, the cost of standard garden lights is considerably less than that of their solar counterparts. The budget may demand a less expensive choice to start with.

One more factor is this question you may want to ask yourself: How important is it to you to use energy efficient, green lighting?

Gardeners work with the earth, and many extend their respect for the plants and trees and the air and the grass by their work in the garden. For them, it only makes sense to use solar powered garden lights, as this plays a small but important role in reducing ones overall footprint. This is something to think about it for anyone who uses garden lighting.

If you are able to set one up, a garden pond is one of the nicest, most serene features of a home garden. Some are able to accentuate all the positives of the pond by even having running water flow into, say, via a garden statue that reroutes the water endlessly.

A garden pond can be a lot of work, and something else to consider is the health of the fish in regards to the lighting set up used in the garden.

For example, you might be wondering if the garden lights may interfere with the health of the fish? Do lights disturb them? Do they keep them up at night?

Wait, do fish even go to sleep?

To this latter question, sleep is a tricky word in regards to fish, but yes, for all intents and purposes, fish have day/night cycle and it revolves around the lighting they are exposed to.

Ensuring that the lights won’t interfere with the fish is pretty simple. You should first of all not shine any lights directly into the water. This not only wouldn’t benefit the fish, but it also isn’t a very attractive set up for the garden. It’d be better for the lights to illuminate the area. You wouldn’t want any of the lights themselves to be poking out and visible. (See our article “Garden Lights for Beginners” for more information on concealing the source of light and why it’s important.) Secondly, the most important part of having a garden pond with fish and having proper lighting is to put the lights on a timer. Use the timer to control the lights and have them turn off once it gets late, say, around 11 or 12. It would be best if the lights do not simply turn off but instead slowly fade, as this will give time for the fish to adjust to the change in light, mimicking what any natural habitat would provide.

Another aspect of garden lighting and ponds that we should mention is safety. Having cables running into the ground near a body of water poses an inherent risk. It’s important to use common sense and care when working around water and electrical cables. That being said, garden lighting cables are stepped down a notch in their voltage capacity for this very reason.

One way around this problem is to use solar garden lights. This way there are no cables and no electrical currents to worry about. But in order to provide the fish with a consistent day/night schedule, you will need solar garden lighting which is equipped to a timer. Otherwise, they may shine all night!