A How-To Guide to Building a Water Feature or Pond for Your Yard

In a hot and sunny climate like ours, the sight and sound of water gently trickling in your garden is enough to make you feel refreshed! A small pond or water feature is a haven for your garden’s ecosystem, helping to keep it cool and fresh while supplying birds, animals, lizards and bugs with a source of clean water. Here’ some advice for installing your own pond or water feature, from our cash for houses agents in Dallas and Fort Worth.

Choose Your Location

First, you have to decide where your water feature should go. We recommend choosing a spot where you can see it and enjoy it easily from your home or deck, where it gets plenty of morning sun but is shaded in the afternoon (this helps keep it from getting too hot in the summer).

It’s important to check where your electrical lines and pipes lie as well, and keep your water feature a good distance away from them. You don’t want to be too far away from an electrical outlet though, as your water feature’s pump will need power to operate.

Start Digging

Map out a general outline of your pond, making sure that you have more than sufficient pond lining material to cover it in a single sheet. Start digging, piling up all the soil you remove onto a tarp.

Once you think you have a good size, lie the liner inside your pit. If it is too big, you can trim it a bit or simply dig out a bit more soil. To make the bottom of the pond level, spread down some leveling sand, level it with a two-by-four, and compact it by stamping it down.

Install the Liner

Place the liner in the pit and fill in gaps behind the liner with soil to help it fit properly. You can start filling the pond with water at this point, being careful not to knock any soil into the pond. Some people prefer their ponds to have a gravel or pebble bottom, which looks lovely. You can add the gravel or pebbles at this point, rinsing it off well with the hose before spreading it along the bottom of the pond.

Start edging your pond, making sure that excess soil is swept away from the edges. One of the best ways to edge your pond is to use large, heavy, flat stones or pavers, making sure they are placed securely on a levelled out surface. These can be cemented into place or, if they are heavy enough, held in place by their own weight. Don’t use small stones as these can be washed away in the rain and aren’t secure to walk on.

Install the pump according to manufacturer guidelines and test it out, making sure that it is secure, safely hooked up and running properly. Let it run for a few days to properly clean your water before you start landscaping with plants.

Finishing Off Your Project

Your water feature is fairly complete but the landscaping is always the crowning glory of these projects! The best approach is to keep it looking as natural as possible, as if it has always been there. This means using plants that you’ll commonly see by water – ferns, sedges, arum lilies, pink lotus, and rushes. You can also plant some of these directly into your pond (usually you can leave them in the water in a sturdy planter, which keeps the water clean), like water hyssop, water canna, creeping Burrhead and marshmallow hibiscus.

Before you start planting, plan out your water feature garden according to how dense or large different plants grow – the last thing you want is your pond to become totally overgrown and hidden from view. When planting, add a few inches of mulch to the beds to prevent soil from getting into your pond.

Maintaining Your Garden Water Feature

Your pond’s pump and filter will help to keep your water feature clean, but it will still require some maintenance to keep your garden looking great.

• Skim out leaves and debris on a regular basis
• Clear out the pond pump’s collection basket and filter mat
• To inhibit algae growth, use barley straw (best used in early spring and kept in the water for around 6 months)
• Keep the water level up, especially during summer
• Check for leaks
• If your pond gets especially dirty, perform a full clean-out in the spring

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