Garden Water Features

Garden water features are popular across the globe. In a similar vein to garden rockeries they can add a sunning element to the finished landscaped garden. Garden water features come in all shapes and sizes and are only limited by your imagination. There are many things to consider when you add a water feature to your garden that often the DIY gardener forgets.

For instance, what water pump will be needed? Do you want a fountain water feature? How about garden drainage? Will the feature have lighting and if so how do you get power to the water feature? Perhaps you want a solar powered water feature and need more advice? A lot of questions we know. Luckily during nearly 20 years of trading at Duxburys we have the answers to most of them.

Pots and Containers

Building a water feature in attractive pots and containers is one of the most popular ways to bring water into a small garden, backyard and patio. This approach has lots of advantages, particularly where space is really limited and it enables you to match the look of other containers and planters to get a unified look which can help small gardens look larger and less "bitty".

Bubble Fountains

Bubble fountains are another favourite for small gardens, although they're not really suitable for yards or patios unless you can dig down a bit, since they need a hole to accommodate the small reservoir which holds the pump.

There are plenty of ready made ones to chose from, but they are all very similar - the container part is buried and covered over with mesh, on top of which you arrange a set of smooth cobbles. Switch on, and water is pumped up a short pipe from the reservoir and splashes down over the cobbles before falling back through the mesh cover. The fact that there's no open water makes them especially suitable for homes with young children.

Troughs and Fountains

If floor-space is limited, but there's a suitable wall available, troughs and wall fountains can be good alternatives to consider. Planting isn't really an option for these kinds of water features, but they do offer an ideal way to get the wonderfully calming sound of running water in restricted spaces. There are a whole range of designs, often with animal heads acting as the "spout", the water then being re-circulated via a pump in the trough.

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Garden Ponds

Ponds are a lovely addition to any garden and can provide a rich habitat for a range of wildlife. However, without care ponds can soon become an eyesore with overgrown plants, weeds and water that is unhealthy for fish and other wildlife. Occasional cleaning and regular maintenance are required to ensure they remain healthy.

Small ponds need a complete overhaul to remove debris every five years, while large ponds need a thorough cleaning every 10 years.

Maintaining your pond

The best time to clean ponds is in late autumn when many creatures are less active. Aim to keep 50 percent of the surface free from vegetation by thinning out plants occasionally during the summer.

Deep water aquatics with floating leaves, such as water lilies, benefit from regular dividing and re-potting, carried out in spring. Place containers on raised bricks lowered in stages as the plants grow, so the leaves can always reach the surface until the final depth is reached when the plant is mature. If not being potted on, water lilies benefit from a supplementary feed in the spring with a specialist aquatic plant food to encourage better flowering. Snip off any tatty leaves, along with any fading flowers in summer. Remove debris from plants early in the autumn to avoid decomposing vegetation building up in the pond. Thin out excessive growth of underwater oxygenating plants.

In late spring, pond algae and weed growth can be rife. There are various ways of controlling and preventing these problems.