Author Archives: Jennifer

Decorating Your Yard With a Simple Waterfall

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Whether it’s a dramatic waterfall or a quiet pond, water works its magic when it comes to oxygenating your pond. Flowing water also provides a natural ambient noise that masks other sounds from the neighborhood such traffic noise.

However keep in mind that not all koi breeds thrive in a pond with a waterfall. This is because fast flowing fountains lower the temperature of a pond. If you do build a fountain for a pond that contains koi make sure the water is low pressure and not much more than a trickle.

An external pond filter or waterfall tank can be positioned against the shallow edge of the pool to create a waterfall. This can be placed to spill directly into the pond in which case the pond liner is held against the pond filter until you are able to stack stones upwards from the shallow edge of the pond shelf to create a waterfall.

If you want to build a stream is desired then create a trench several inches deep that leads to pond. Line this with pond underlayment and cut to fit pond liner making sure that you allow extra material to overlap several inches into the pond. Streams should be dug wider than the finished size to make room for river stone that can be placed into the stream to make it look natural. Stones and rocks can be secured to the liner using mortar. This will hold back the water allowing it to spill over the stone creating the waterfall.

If you are using a submersible pump, place the where it should be in the liner. Now add some rocks or broken brick around and under the pump, making it level with the top of the liner. It should be in alignment whit your water level. Be sure that your pump is secure. This is ideal for creating a spray in the center of your pond.

You can leave the liner bare or you can fill it with dirt, rocks, sand or river rocks. Fill your pond with water, and allow it to stand for a couple of days before stocking it to allow any chlorine in the water to dissipate. Just make sure that everything is settled before you attempt to operate a pump. You can also add these elements later if you are curious to see if your pump works right away

To test the pump fill the liner with water and hook your pump up to a grounded electric outlet. You will be able to adjust the water flow to make a nice gently flowing fountain, a fine spray or a burble. liner.

Also be sure to keep your liner full of water. The water will evaporate, and if the water level gets too low, a submersible pump starts “burning air” and breaks. Try to keep your submersible pump under water at all time when it is operating. Also be sure to take the pump inside when the water starts to freeze

How to Decorate Your Yard With a Water Garden

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Water gardens have about as many different personalities as people. Some ponds are quiet and reflective and merely reflect the bare branches of trees. Others are manic with burbling and gushing splashes of water. Yet others are busy with fish and sprawling lily pads.

The kind of garden that you create is not only dependent on what your taste or personality is but also on your budget, availability of materials, drainage methods and filtration requirements of your environment. However, fortunately there are no hard or fast rules for pond construction.

Generally, a hobbyist should consider buying a premade plastic tub that is set into the ground. This simplest of ponds can occasionally be dumped out and refilled with water from a garden hose. If the pond is over eight feet in length it is recommended that it be lined with black polyethylene sheets to slow the leakage of pond water into the ground. Larger ponds are more complex both in terms of construction and maintenance and involve the use of such devices as drains filters and pumps.

Before you construct a water garden, you might want to take into account that they can be very high maintenance. They can become fetid and smelly if you don’t make the time to attend to it. They can also attract a lot of mosquitoes as well as other wild life such as raccoons and rats. Ponds may present a safety hazard to children in the neighborhood so you may have to build a fence around your property to give the neighbors some peace of mind.

As arule of thumb, the bigger and deeper your pond and the less greenery that is planted in or around it, the more able it is going to be to clean itself and the less trouble it is going to be for you to maintain. A pond that is in alignment with the natural rhythms of evaporation and the life cycles of local insects, amphibians and plant life tends to be self-renewing.

When it comes to determining how deep your pool should be, there are a few things that you need to consider. Ponds built in colder areas may need more depth to keep the pond from freezing solid. Koi ponds should be three feet or deeper to allow these larger fish enough space to wiggle around and reproduce offspring.

A pond that is in alignment with the natural rhythms of evaporation and the life cycles of local insects, amphibians and plant life tends to be self-renewing. As it is self-cleansing, it is lower maintenance

Fountains can installed using air pressure pumps and hoses that can be bought at any water garden supply store. The water pressure of your homemade fountain can be adjusted arranged so that the water either burbles gently or gushes in a dramatic way. Then all you have to do is add fish, aquatic flowers and plants at the water’s edge and you have a beautiful water garden.