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Water excites the senses. It sparkles in the eyes, splashes in the ears, cools the skin and even seems to freshen the air we breathe. With all this going for it, it's no wonder
most of us love the idea of water in the garden.
Even small gardens can have a water feature. On verandas and patios or in small courtyards and villa units, it may be difficult to provide more than half to one square metre of water surface; but even that can make a great feature.
If you have the space, your options are far greater.
-A swimming pool is both good to look at and very practical
-A stream either natural or created can be a focus point in your garden.
-A pond either small or large, and with or without plants or fish.
For less than one sq. metre of water surface:
-Half barrel with a single floating water lily
-Small wall fountain
-Bubble fountain through a rock
-Cascade down a wall (all into ponds & water re-circulated)
For two to twelve square metres:
-Still pond
-Waterfall into a small pond
-Fountain in centre of pond
For over ten square metres
-Large pond full of plants
-Large reflection pond
-Spa
-Cascading ponds
-Cascading stream
One of the wonderful things about water is that it can allow us to grow all sorts of wonderful plants which are otherwise not possible in the garden.
HOW DOES THE RAIN AFFECT A
Too much rain and ponds or pools can overflow. Make sure you have adequate drainage particularly in high rainfall areas (eg. Tropical monsoon areas).
Too little water, and they can dry up unless you regularly top them up.
Too much heat or wind, and they can dry up.
If water in a pond or pool is dropping fast, you may suspect a leak, but this isn't necessarily so. You can test whether it is just evaporation as follows:
Place a plastic container (eg bucket) full of water beside the pond or pool for a week (in same amount of shade or sun). Check how much the pool goes down compared with water loss from the bucket. If similar, you don't have a leak.
HOW TO KEEP THE WATER IN
Wouldn't it be lovely if all we had to do was dig a hole and fill it with water. The problem is, this doesn't usually work. The water normally seeps away, and at best we are left with a very muddy hole. The dogs and children might love it, but it doesn't really achieve the soothing and tranquil aesthetics dreamt about when we planned a water garden.
Ponds, streams and pools need the bottoms and sides sealed, and there are various ways of doing this. The most common techniques are explained below.
*Prefabricated Shells : Dig a hole and bury in the ground
Commonly made of fibreglass, concrete or plastic; these come in various colours, shapes and sizes. -Dig a hole or mound up around them, to give height. Set on a base of sand.
Advantage: They can be dug up and moved.
*Liners
Water Proofing sheets or blankets are tough materials made specifically for holding water in a pool or pond. They are usually black, and can simply be spread over depressions or sculpted ground shapes, to waterproof streams or ponds. Often soil or sand is spread over the surface to create a more natural affect (ie. The liner becomes buried a few centimetres below the surface of the ground).
*Concreting
The ground is sculpted then sand and reinforcing is laid over the surface (eg. wire mesh for small ponds; heavier metal reinforcing for larger) . Concrete is then laid over the surface. This needs to be left for a week or so to harden and cure properly before filling with water. Further time is required to remove lime from the cement before plants or fish can be introduced. You need the advice of an expert when building a pond this way.
*Waterproofing the existing soil
Some soils can be waterproofed sufficiently by simply adding lime or concrete to the bottom of a sculpted area of soil. Heavy clay soils can sometimes be waterproofed by a process of simply compacting the surface layers with either heavy rollers or a ramming machine.
COST OF WATER FEATURES
Doubling the area of water does NOT double the cost. Larger areas of water are often cheaper per sq. metre.
Some construction methods are more labour intensive, and others cost more for the materials. Prefabricated shells are the easiest to install, but the shells can be costly.
Liners are simple to install and relatively cheap.
SHAPES, LOCATIONS AND AFFECTS
The first considerations are always practical ones. Water whether you like it or not always settles to a flat surface, so the slope of the land will always limit what you can do. Despite the efforts of Yahoo Serious in Young Einstein; water cannot be made to flow up-hill. Water will always tend to collect rubbish; and the more rubbish it collects, the more difficult it is to keep clean. Avoid placing water features where they will collect excessive rubbish:
-Consider: What leaves, dust or other rubbish might find it's way into the water.
-Consider what might wash in from erosion up hill of the water
-Consider what might blow in (Windy places are sometimes more of a problem.
If you want to create the affect of a reflection on the water surface, you want a still surface, so avoid windy places, (build a wall or plant a windbreak); and avoid moving or splashing water (ie. cascades or fountains) near to the place where you want the reflection.
Long narrow ponds can be used to give a feeling of depth in the garden, particularly if they are wider at the closest point and narrower at a distance.
Straight sided square or rectangular pools can give a sense of order or formality.
A raised pond (at seat height), can provide an edge to sit on and dip hands in the water, and give the water height to allow it to fall or cascade to a lower pond at ground level.
IDEAS FOR A
-Create an
moved every know and then to create changing scene).
-For large ponds provide nest boxes for water birds
-For large features (eg large ponds, streams) build a small jetty, landing or bridge.
EDGING TOWARDS A BETTER LOOK
Edging a water feature is the "icing on the cake". A properly edged water garden looks great, but a badly edged one will stand out like a sore thumb.
If you want a natural look the edge must be ill defined (ie. It will merge slowly into the land surrounding it). Plants growing along the edge will spread a little from the water out onto the land (eg. Iris, reeds etc), and plants on the land may spread into or hang over the water. When the edge is less well defined, the look is less natural, but if it is curved, it can still convey an informal affect. Breaking the edge by having an occasional plant growing close to the
WATER LIFE
You will get living things in water very easily; but they might not be the living things you want. Algae will grow wherever there is water, light and a few nutrients. If you have fish, snails or any other types of animals, or even leaves and dust blowing into the water, these will provide nutrients; so algae will become inevitable. Animals will eat the algae, and if you have the right balance of animals and plants, they will stop the algae growing too much; but excessive algal growth will cause severe discolouration of the water.
If you want crystal clear water, you need to keep the algae under control, and remove any other things such as dust, which might enter and discolour the water. Filtration and/or other treatments such as chlorination or bromination might be necessary for this. If you want fish in the water, chemicals can cause real problems and while it is possible to do this and still have very clear water; that can involve a lot of expertise and expensive equipment to perfect and control.
Fish need water which has air in it. If you want fish, you need water to splash, because that's how it becomes aerated. A waterfall, cascade or fountain can be very beneficial to fish, and help improve their feeding, hence keeping algae down and water clarity up.
Learn the basic of gardening or landscaping with a mini course. At around 10 hrs these courses are both an affordable and achievable way of getting some basic knowledge and testing the water to see if you are suited to distance or correspondence study. Click http://www.acsedu.com/courses/product_listings.aspx?catid=horticulture%20mini%20courses
THE WATER EFFICIENT GARDEN
Water is a precious, and increasingly expensive resource for Australian gardens.
Without water, most of us don't have much of a garden; and with it, we are able to do a lot more in the garden. All too often though, we don't really make the best use of our water resources; and that can mean, we don't get the best results from our garden for the water we do use on it.
Simple things can make a big difference. Mulching, watering at the right time of day, choosing the most appropriate plants for your area and using the most appropriate techniques for applying water, can all contribute to getting better results and saving dollars on the water bill.
A new book by
"HOSES
Even when you have a fully developed, fixed watering system, a hose is essential in every garden. The most common size hoses for garden applications are 12 millimetre and 18 millimetre diameter. Generally 12 millimetre diameter hose is suitable for the average garden. However, remember that the larger the diameter, the greater the water flow.
If you have low water pressure, or a steeply sloping property, then you may need to purchase an 18 millimetre hose to get adequate water flow. Plan your watering points so that you can use the same hose in a number of locations; this keeps the length of hose to a minimum.
There are two types of hose available, and any decision as to which to purchase is a matter of cost and the amount of use you expect from the hose.
Unreinforced hoses are generally made from PVC and can be bought as either opaque or transparent hoses. They are the cheapest and have the shortest lifespan. They will become stiff in winter and are prone to kinking as they soften when hot. If left in the sun they will eventually split and burst.
Reinforced hoses are a better alternative. They have a polyester reinforcement wound across an inner layer to strengthen the hose. Even with reinforced hoses there is a range of choice; with the better quality hoses being the most expensive."
"FILTRATION
Clean water is essential to maintain an efficient watering system, especially if you are using microsprays or dripper emitters.
There are a range of different styles of filters which can be used. The size and type will depend on the water flow rates your system requires. Starting at the cheapest and simplest end is the 13 millimetre or 19 millimetre cartridge type filter which fits into the LDPE dripper line with barb fittings. The filter screen is a fine plastic mesh inside the housing which collects the debris. Cleaning is performed by unscrewing the end cap, removing the screen and brushing the screen clean. Be sure to reassemble the filter in the correct direction. The filter housing will have a flow arrow moulded on the outside to help you. These should be fitted at the start of each line.
For larger fixed systems, there are a number of choices of filters: rapid sand, screen or disc type.
These are fitted in line with threaded connections to pipes at the start of pipe runs.
The size of screens or discs used will depend on the system used. In general terms, drippers require finer filtration than microsprays, which in turn require finer filtration than sprinklers.
Don't allow your filter to clog up even partly, as this reduces the efficiency of your system. Make sure you flush the filter regularly, each time you start watering."
"DRIP IRRIGATION
Drip irrigation was originally developed in
Drippers basically work at low water pressures and use small openings to wet a very localized area of soil This means that there are a number of points to be kept in mind:
*Water quality is important and a filter is essential.
*Low water pressures are required.
*Location of the dripper in relation to the individual plant is important.
The water supplied by a drip system falls onto the soil, then seeps downwards and outwards through the soil profile. This forms a bulb or "onion" -shaped zone of wetted soil under the drip emitter. The size and shape of the zone depends on the type of soil and the amount of water applied. For heavy clays this bulb shape is shallow, whereas in lighter soils the shape is narrower and deeper. These wet zones can be joined together or left separate by simply varying the spacing of emitters along the tubing"
"RAINWATER COLLECTION
The water you use for your garden need not necessarily come from the mains supply, as many country folk are well aware. You can harvest rainwater from your roof and run it directly onto your garden or store it in a tank until required. Recycling some of the waste water from your home is another possibility.
If you have a sandy soil, then it's worth considering diverting runoff from your roof, driveways and pathways, and directly applying it to the garden. This can be done by laying out rock or gravel dispersion trenches which will allow the water to irrigate the areas of the garden that need it most.
Years ago every house in country areas had several rainwater tanks, and so did many city dwellers. Collecting your own rainwater makes good sense whether it's intended for drinking or for the garden, but there are several aspects to consider before investing in a tank. The first is cost, and this will vary according to the material the tank is made from.
Tanks are manufactured from Aquaplate, galvanized steel, Zincalume, fibreglass, concrete and ferro-cement, and each has it's own particular merit.
MOSQUITOS
The best way to stop mosquitos from breeding in your tank is to seal it effectively so that the females cannot lay eggs on the water. If they do get in, further problems can be prevented by checking all of the inlet screens etc, so they can't get out!
Another option is to add 1 millimetre of household kerosene for each square metre on top of the surface of the water. The kerosene floats on the surface, killing the mosquito larvae by preventing them from breathing. This is not recommended for drinking water, and more than this amount may taint the water. Kerosene should not be added to aquaplate tanks as it can damage the polymer coating."
Extracts above from: The Water Efficient Garden by
Copies of this book are available from good bookshops or direct from the author:
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