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About This Project
Whether it’s a stream in the middle of the woods or a fountain in the heart of downtown, few things rival the sight and sound of moving water. It’s relaxing, mesmerizing, contemplative. Well, you don’t have to pack up the family and drive for hours for that experience. You can create your own water garden, complete with babbling brook, in your own backyard.
We’ll show you how to create a water garden—without spending a fortune or your entire summer doing it. Preformed shells, rubber liners and off-the-shelf pumps and filters put the project’s costs and skill requirements within easy reach of any do-it-yourselfer. You’ll put in your share of sweat equity busting sod and hauling stone. But when you’re done, you’ll have a landscape feature to enjoy for years. Here’s the story.
Water Gardens— No Two Are The Same
Since
every yard and homeowner is different, every water garden is unique. Yours can
be large or small, simple or complex. There are two basic ways to create a
water garden. The first is to use a flexible rubber-like liner made of EPDM,
the same material used for flat commercial roofs. Using this method, you dig
the shape and size pond you want, then line the hole with a sheet of this
heavy-duty material. Homeowners who want to “dive into” water
gardening in a big way choose this flexible liner; they can create large, deep
ponds that can hold many, and many varieties of, fish and plants.
We elected to go the other route by using preformed rigid shells or liners. (Actually, we joined two shells with a small stream made from the flexible liner mentioned above.) The shells we used are constructed of heavy-duty polyethylene, but you can also get ones made from fiberglass and other materials. Most shells have built-in ledges for plants and don’t require as much planning and ground preparation as the flexible liners. Shells do limit your design to the shapes available, but linking several together increases your options. For a water garden of small to moderate size, shells offer a lot of convenience.
Preformed shells come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Our garden center stocked a dozen shells ranging in size from a 4-gallon mini pond to the 210-gallon butterfly-shaped shell we used. It could special-order dozens of other shells as well. You can buy shells with or without spillways, the molded lips that allow water to flow from one pond to another. You can even buy preformed streams and waterfalls for connecting a series of ponds. You can install a single pond, cascade a series of ponds down a hillside, plunk one in the middle of a patio or use one as a focus for a small retreat in a corner of your backyard.
Location, Location, Location
We elected to nestle our water garden into an existing
flower bed about 20 ft. from the house. But remember, a water garden is a
living thing—it makes noise, attracts wildlife and requires upkeep.
Locate it where you can best appreciate it. And remember that you have
neighbors, too.
Our experts gave us a few tips on positioning water gardens:
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Select a location that receives four hours or more of direct sun a day if you plan on including aquatic plants.
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Make certain the area has good drainage. Locate the pond away from the bottom of steep slopes so debris, fertilizers and pesticides don’t run into your pond. If you’re connecting two ponds with a stream like we did, make sure you have an adequate slope. Position your pond so runoff flows downhill and away from any houses.
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A lot of literature warns against positioning your pond under or near trees. But hey, this is the real world! If you wind up situating the pond in a treed area, expect to spend more time plucking out leaves, needles and branches before they decompose. And watch out for roots as you dig.
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Think safety. Building codes in most areas are nebulous about water gardens. Most communities don’t require barriers or fences, but ask before you dig in. Otherwise, let common sense rule. If there are free-range toddlers in the neighborhood, consider building a barrier around your yard or pond.
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Call your utility companies and have them mark out the path of all underground wires, cable and pipe. Their locations may very well require you to change your game plan. Digging into an underground wire or pipe can be expensive and dangerous— even deadly.
Remember, moving water isn’t just for looks; it keeps the water filtered and aerated and helps prevent stagnation. If you install just a single pond, plan on including a pump, filter and fountain to keep the water circulating and fresh.
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