Two ways to build a fountain in the garden

Improvement of a garden site is a complicated business. After all, it is far from easy to harmoniously organize a lot of disparate details: plants, decorative elements, paths, flower beds, and more. In order not to get into trouble, you should use win-win options. These include fountains for the garden, they fit seamlessly into any style and give a special charm to the site. Besides the fact that they are beautiful in appearance, they also bring great benefits. Thanks to them, humidity will increase and plants planted near them will not suffer so much from the languishing summer heat.

Content

• Product Options
• Imitate a natural pond with a fountain

• Create an artificial pond
• Preparing a slide for a creek-waterfall
• Pond decoration

Product Options

Many people who wish to see such an element of decor on their site refuse this idea after learning how much this pleasure will cost them. In fact, it is not necessary to hire workers and purchase an already finished product; you can create a garden fountain yourself. There will be a lot of work, and the purchase of materials will not cost a mere penny, but the final amount will be several times less than what the masters would take, and as a result you will get a lot of pleasure from a beautiful sight.

You can build almost any type of fountain yourself. They are divided into the following categories:

• decorative fountains for the garden (small items that are often mobile and can be hidden in the barn for the winter);

• ground structures (most often consist of two main elements: a pool and a decorative center element);

• imitators (made in the form of a natural reservoir into which a stream of water flows from a hill);

The disadvantage of the first option is that, as such, there will be no benefit to it from nearby plants. But then it is very easy to do it yourself, even from improvised means. The only thing – you can’t do without buying a pump, but its cost for such a volume will be insignificant.

The disadvantage of the second option lies in the impossibility of constructing it completely with your own hands. It is very easy to make a pool for it, but pouring forms for the central element will not work. Either you will make it without a hill in the middle, or you will have to purchase bowls or statues for it separately.
The latter option is the most attractive, as it organically fits into the design of any garden, and it will look impressive (its size contributes to this). A significant minus is a very large amount of work. And at a cost it will come out no more than other options. It is his construction process that we will consider further.

Imitate a natural pond with a fountain

Create an artificial pond

This type of fountains for a summer residence is constructed in three stages: preparation of a pond, construction of a slide and decoration. The first stage is carried out in accordance with the following points.

• Marking the territory, designating the boundaries of the structure using wooden stakes.
• Removing the topsoil, checking the edges for horizontal. It is necessary to carefully check whether one side rises above the others (the bias even in a couple of centimeters matters).
• Digging a pit. Its shores should not be steep, it is necessary to equip the terraces inside the pit. The dimensions of the sites can be the same, the height from one terrace to another is 50 cm. With a depth of the future reservoir less than 1 m, one ledge is enough.
• Covering the surface of a dug pit with PVC film. It is necessary to carefully spread the cloth in such a way that as few small folds are formed on it. It is permissible to collect material in several large folds. The material should extend beyond the edges of the structure by 30 cm.

•   Sanding the surface of the pit. Evenly distributing it over the sites, pour water for weighting. We build masonry from large stones on the bottom and terraces.
• Having laid the cobblestones in a stable position, we fix the edges of the material to cover the bottom. We nail with pegs to the surface of the earth and press with natural stones. Make sure that their sharp edges do not come in contact with the film surface..

Since we have not yet fully dealt with the question of how to make a fountain in the country, the pit is not being filled with water at the moment..

Preparing a slide for a creek-waterfall

To make a fountain that simulates a stream running down to a pond, it is necessary to erect a slope. The process of creating it looks like this.

1. Near the pond, in the place where the highest point of the slide is supposed to be, a plastic sewer pipe is vertically mounted (buried in the ground and poured with concrete). The cut length is chosen at your discretion: the higher the pipe and closer to the shore, the circle will be slide.
2. A hole is made at the base of the pipe through which the water supply will pass. One end of the water pipe goes deep into the pond, to the place where the pump will be placed. The second end is brought to the top of the sewer pipe..
3. Next, masonry is performed. It is advisable for the fortress to connect the elements with a cement mortar. Thus, it is possible to provide good sealing, in which water will not drain to the ground.
4. Masonry is done with a decrease to the top (in the ground part it is the widest).
5. Since we do make an artificial fountain in the garden with our own hands, we need to ensure the forced circulation of water. For this, a pump that is designed for immersion is best suited. It is placed at the bottom of the reservoir, propped up with stones on all sides to avoid tipping over. Then a water pipe is connected to it.

The necessary living atmosphere can not be created without plants. Inside the pond, aquatic inhabitants are planted: nymphaeum, lotus, water lily, mulberry and others. They are necessary not only as decorations, but also to create a biodynamic balance. Moisture-loving settlers are seated around the reservoir, along the shores: mannik, sedge, primrose, hazel grouse.

Taking care of the flora, do not forget about the fauna. Set tadpoles and snails in the pond. The former will help purify the water and make it transparent; the latter will help get rid of sludge.

Pond decoration

Now, knowing exactly how to build a fountain in the country, you should not imagine this venture so long-playing and expensive. One person will need to spend about a week on the construction of the fountain, taking into account the exclusion of other matters from his schedule. But the time may be shorter, it all depends on what sizes the future structure will have. The most serious expenses will be the purchase of a PVC film and a pump, the price of everything else is quite reasonable.