How to Make a Water Garden – Part 1

The Master Book of the Water Garden: The Ultimate Guide to the Design and Maintenance of the Water Garden With More Than 190 Plant Profiles

Water gardens are a great addition to anyone’s property. They can provide emotional happiness and they allow for a feeling of peace and tranquility in your yard. You may be wondering how you can build your own water garden from scratch, if this is the case then you have come to the right place. I will be outlining all the steps you need to know when designing a water garden, also steps on how to go about building a water garden. So sit back relax and get ready to learn how to build your very first water garden.

Planning Your Water garden

The first step in building your water garden is to plan on where you want it. The best location would be on level, well-drained ground. Also, when your planning be sure you’re not directly over any underground pipes or wires. If possible try to place your water garden where it will receive a balanced mixture of light, and shade. Avoid building near big trees or in places of heavy wind as you don’t want your filtration system to get clogged up with leaves and other things flying around in the air.

Designing Your Water Garden

When designing the actual water garden your first choice you have to make is whether or not you want an informal or formal design. A formal design is typically basic geometric shapes (Rectangle, Square, and Circle), this is intended to make the water garden look man-made. Informal designs typically look like mother natures creation, they will often have weird abstract shapes involved and sometimes a stream or waterfall to blend the design of the water garden. The ideal depth of your water garden should be 18-24 inches; this depth will be able to support the growing of aquatic plants and most types of fish. Knowing the capacity of your pool is very important when sizing your pump and also for using the correct amounts of chemicals. If you are unsure of the capacity of your water garden the easiest way to check is by applying a flow meter to your water supply line. Once you know the capacity of your water garden you are ready to find your liner, only purchase “flexible liners” as they give you the ability to shape it to your water garden dimensions even if it has irregular shapes. To determine the size of liner you need measure the longest point of width and length and then figure out the smallest rectangle you would need to cover those dimensions, this will tell you what size of liner you need.