Do I Need A Master Plan When Constructing My Water Garden?

If you want building your water garden to run smoothly, then you must plan it well - delegate tasks, buy the necessary tools, soils, material and so on. Draw up a work schedule that will work for you. Try and make provision for the unexpected (such as a late delivery of concrete for your water garden. Do not be too strict as well because you have to have fun building your water garden for your home.

Deciding what to keep in your water garden...

Do not rush to get rid of the old material when you have decided to build a new water garden. You can use the existing trees and structures and you can easily incorporate them into the new design. Make sure that you do not waste materials or remove unnecessary things as this will cause frustration. Here are some garden styles you can use

You need to measure your garden and you start by drawing a sketch of the old garden. You need to measure the overall length of the boundaries, the gate, important angles, the house position, trees and others structures. All these items need to be recorded and added to the sketch plan.

You will also need to make plans about the primary structures such as the decks, bridges and gates.

Drawing a plan to scale

You can use the sketch diagram to make the actual drawing. The accurate drawing will have more detail than the sketch and will be done on a graph paper. If the paper is divided into 1cm squares then a scale of 1:50 (where 1cm on the paper represents 50cm in the garden) would be suitable. The ideas for the new garden should be sketched out on photocopies of the basic plan. Redo the plan until it's a perfect representation of the actual garden. You need to assess your water garden

Once this is done, draw up a master plan by tracing over the top of the basic plan. I tape the sheets of paper to a window as this allows me to see through to the plan and trace the lines. I personally use a felt-tip pen (my friend Richard uses watercolors) to color in the plan. My friend suggested that I should try uses some Computer Aided Design Software, but I'm used to my old fashioned pen. What you use is up to you.

You need to know were the primary structures are going to go - the ponds, sumps etc. The secondary structures such as the paths, gates, power cables will follow. Ensure that you do not live anything behind

Water and power supplies

The majority of small ponds can be topped up using a hosepipe. It would take forever to feel a large pond with water using this small pipe and you must consider installing underground pipes and an automatic top-up system. Do not try and do this yourself - you can hire qualified electricians to help you with this.

Pond lining

Make sure that your pond lining conceal the edges of the pond. Cover the edges of the pond with brick or pavers. You can obtain materials to build your pond from suppliers of DIY stores, builders mechanists and reclamation yards. Below is a list of materials you will need:

Tools that you can use: