Add a Pond in Your Backyard – Create a Garden of Water

by Thomas Fryd

Backyard ponds are great additions to any landscaping garden. The pond immediately becomes a focal point for anyone who sees your yard. Your kids will love the pond, especially if there are fish.

Don’t despair if you think that a pond will take way too much work to create. Of course, certain types of ponds with intricate rock waterfalls will be tough to make, but you can create simpler ones with much less effort. Even a simple water feature will add beauty to your garden. The sound and sight of the water is truly soothing. Simplicity is key. A pond that is too cluttered is takes away some of the relaxing effect. When designing a pond, you need to find a place for the water to fall to, so it does not sit still. Also, you need to create a reservoir for this water to collect.

Having the waterfall will add a relaxing sound and keep the flow moving. The reservoir will hold the water that falls. It must be deeper than two feet. Any reservoir over two feet is considered a swimming pool, so you need to make sure the local regulations allow for something like that.

You can build the sides of the reservoir with a fiberglass shell, or with rubber liners.

Adding fish and aquatic plants will make your pond seem more natural. A water lily is a common plant to add in ponds. Also, they look nice and they help to balance out the ecosystem.

You can cover the pond with landscaping gravel to help the aquatic plants live. This is possible because microorganisms hat release carbon dioxide live in the spaces between the gravel, and the plants need carbon dioxide to live.

Plants, in turn, release oxygen. The microorganisms and fish need the oxygen that is released from the plants. You can see clearly how the ecological cycle works. Adding plant life to your pond will also help it blend into the surroundings.

You will need a water supply constantly to maintain a pond, especially if you want fish. Before you create your pond, you should calculate how much water you will need. There is an easy way to calculate this. First, figure out the square footage of the pond. Then, multiply the area by depth (in feet), to get the volume in cubic feet. Next, multiply the result (cubic feet) by 7.5 to get the final answer of number of gallons of water that you will need for your pond.

If you don’t mind a little bit extra work to make your pond look more interesting, you can create a step-by-step cascade of water from the pond to the reservoir. It will add a more interesting look to the pond and create a more tropical feel to a backyard landscape. An electrical pump can keep the water circulating, but keep in mind that you will have to add more water from time to time because of evaporation.

If you cannot create a cascading waterfall, you can look into kits of bubblers or anything else to add a simple, functional, and appealing feature to your pond.

About the Author:
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