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How To Build A Water Garden and Stream-Planning and Design Cont'd
Build a Lazy River
We created a small stream from the spillway of the upper
pond to the lower pond. We began by building a small canal out of stone, then sloped a layer of sand across
the bottom. We then laid the rubber liner into the canal, draped the excess liner up and over
the walls of the canal, then added another layer of stone to disguise it. Make
sure the canal is deep enough to prevent water from escaping.
Support the liner and curve it up and behind the spillway to contain the water. Make certain the other end drapes well into the lower pond. Use water from a garden hose to test the slope and flow of your little river as you build it. Again, don’t expect to get everything right the first time. Building with irregular stone isn’t the same as building with flat, square wood. Use small stone chips to shim and stabilize larger stones as you work.
Once you’re satisfied with the design and watertightness of your stream, use pond foam (a black, weather-resistant expanding foam available through your pond dealer) to secure thin stone to the top and face of the spillway to disguise it. We added smooth stones to the bottom of the stream to hide the liner and create a more natural-looking flow.
Continue adding stone up and around the upper pond and upper pond lip.
All the Right Stuff
If you want a long-lasting
water garden, keep these buying tips in mind:
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Some pond shells are flimsy and more likely to flex under the pressure of heavy backfill or freezing, expanding soil. Do some comparison shopping before you buy. Both manufacturers listed in our Buyer’s Guide offer sturdy shells.
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Buy the thickest EPDM rubber liner you can find. It commonly comes in 40-mil and heavier-duty 60-mil thicknesses.
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Invest in heavy-duty hose for circulating the water. Once it’s buried, it’s hard to make repairs. The corrugated version we found was quite crush resistant.
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Pump size is based on the desired flow rate, plus the height and distance it needs to push the water. Read the manufacturer’s guidelines; when in doubt, opt for the larger pump.
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Order excess flagstone. You’ll be better off finding shapes that fit than doing a lot of cutting. You can use any leftover material to build a path or a garden border.
Pumps, Fountains and Wildlife
If your ponds are full of sand, rock bits and other
construction debris, siphon, pump or use a big wet-dry vacuum to remove the
water and refill the ponds with fresh water.
Connect the filter and pump to your water circulating line so the water is drawn through the filter before it reaches the pump. We added a T-fitting to our pump so we could circulate water to the upper pond and to a small statue beside the lower pond.
Set the filter on a few small rocks so it doesn’t rest directly on the bottom where it’s more likely to become clogged with debris. Plug in your pump, then keep an eye on water levels and flow to make sure everything is functioning properly and there are no leaks. Pay attention to the pump and filter literature for maintenance information. Keep the upper end of the hose out of the upper pond to prevent a possible siphoning effect.
Maintaining clean water and establishing aquatic plants and fish are complex topics we won’t even pretend to address here. Suffice it to say, understanding the dynamics of your pond and doing proper maintenance will make the difference between a pond you’ll want to linger around for hours and one you’ll want to fill in with dirt and plant with petunias in a few years. See “For More Information,” below.
For More Information-
Pools, Ponds and Waterways, Dawn Grinstain, Grove Press, 1992. www.suttonbooks.com
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The Complete Pond Builder, Helen Nash, Sterling, 1996. www.barnesandnoble.com
Oops!
While we were photographing the cover,
someone stood on a sharp rock in the spillway, creating a pinhole tear in the
liner. We didn’t discover this slow leak until several days later. The
pump in the lower pond kept circulating the water, but hour by hour, water
leaked through this small cut, and less water was making its way back to the
lower pond. Eventually it nearly went dry. If we hadn’t caught it, we
would have burned out the pump and most likely killed the flowers and fish.
Water loss from even dinky leaks or splashes adds up fast.
Water garden supplies can be found at many large garden centers. Three manufacturers:
ATLANTIC WATER GARDENS: (609) 927-8972, www.atlanticwatergardens.com. Lawn ponds, filters, skimmers and accessories.
BECKETT CORP.: (888) 232-5388, www.beckettpumps.com.
MacCOURT: (800) 552-5473, www.maccourt.com. Preformed lawn ponds.
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