Building a water garden with waterfall

[Timber]

I started this project a few years ago after my pool was put in. I have been plagued with poor weather and the fall of the economy forced my attention to my job in corporate management. I was going to continue the thread I originally started but I moved the pictures to a different folder and broke all the links so I decided to start a new thread. The garden is nearing completion and should be completed in a few weeks. I will do my best to rebuild the thread over the next 2 weeks.

This is the area the water garden will be located next to the pool house. The garden will consist of 2 pools, 1 below ground level and 1 above ground level. The large stone in this photo will be moved into position to form the back side of the upper pool.

Here are the foundation stones in place for the upper pool

Clearing the area and colecting stones for use later

Cleared and ready to start digging

 

[Timber]

I am doing all the digging with the loader with a tooth bar

 

[Timber]

The 1st problem I ran into was unearthing the power cable the feeds the sub panel In the barn from the house. I had a pretty good idea were it ran but I thought it would be deeper. Of coarse I found it with the tractor

I made the repair to the cable and now this is the line that will determine were the lower pool and upper pool will be separated.

This picture is the start of building the upper pool that will overflow into the lower pool creating the waterfall.

 

[mmurphy]

Looking good. I do not have a pond set up, but in backyard a big hosta and other shade loving plants. Nice to get out side when hot to enjoy it, and that looks like a good start to yours. How is mosquitos in your area? In Iowa they will carry you away!

 

[Timber]

I have no shortage of mosquitoes and Jiggers. I have a lot of wild life here so we have dear ticks and Lyme disease, triple E and all that good stuff but life is short and I know how to deal with it all.

 

[Timber]

Once the greater part of the digging is done with the tractor the rest is all hand work. I have filled in the road I had created to dig out the lower pool and let an entire 4 seasons pass to compact the soil. Last fall I continued with carving out the pools by hand. This is very time consuming and can not be rushed. It is also very physically demanding! This is the part of the process that is the foundation of what your garden will look like below the surface of the water.

The upper most level is for pinning the liner in place once it is drooped and filled with water. the stones onto the upper shelf will be in the water and then another layer of stone will sit on top creating the edge of the garden

The lower pool is were the fish and most of the below water plant material will live. Water will be drawn from this level to the upper pool. The water in the upper pool will be more turbulent than in the lower pool.

The other levels of for plant material. There are many levels because water plants grow at different depths than other plants. This garden is of a size that I will conceal the planting pots with larger stones.

The 2 large stones pictured here are standing on end. after the liner is pined in place with smaller stone on the shelf below the water line these to stones will be rotated over to cap those stones and secure the liner.

 

[Timber]

I find a laser level as a guide very useful. Water will always find level so in planning out were things will be.

this is a skimmer in the corner and it needs to be set so the water can be drawn in to collect what floats on the surface. This is also were one of the pumps will be located

 

[Timber]

One of the the things I was going to skip doing was putting in a bottom drain. After some advice and some research I decided I would be better off putting 1 in. Now that most of the lower pool is shaped I can put in the plumbing for the bottom drain

Once all the measurements and cuts are made for the rise and tread of the pond levels I glued it all together. The bottom drain and PVC is all 4 inch. I will be using a Hayward pool pump to pull water from the bottom drain to feed directly into the overflow pool with no filter.

This piece of 4 inch PVC I installed when building the upper pool to running the wiring and tubing through to power the pumps and filters.

 

[Timber]

The upper pool also had to be worked by hand to create some levels for stone to sit below the waterline. This not only will create a natural looking pool but also hide the inlet lines that will feed the waterfall

 

[Timber]

All the sculpting below the waterline is done, The bottom drain is in, all the soil is packed in very tight. We are now ready to put in the underlay for the liner. I have been collecting carpet to lay down under the liner. It is a nice heavy material that will protect the liner from stone,roots or anything else that may damage the liner.