What Are The Main Features Of A Meadow-Stream Garden?

This water garden has slow moving meandering streams, wild grasses and flowers. Willows are common and they grow close to the stream. The meadow steam has a shallow ditch. The soil alongside the stream will be damp and supports numerous water loving creatures such as frogs and newts. This is indeed a wonderful water garden...

The water garden has 5 major design components:

  • a wild meadow
  • a meandering stream
  • a grassy bank
  • willow trees
  • plants

Is this design suitable for my garden?

This water garden pattern is ideal for a small space that is calm and free from noise. The space where the meadow-stream water garden will be constructed needs to be damp and level. The stream requires all year wet conditions. If your garden has these characteristics then you can create a decent water garden...

If you have a steep water garden then perhaps you should opt for the Mountain-stream water garden design. Alternatively you would modify the design creating a mountain stream which later levels out to become a meadow stream.

How to create a meadow-stream garden...

The ideal space to create a low-lying area should be about 15 ft

  • Mark out the route and dig a continuous meandering V-section trench, which is double the width of the stream.
  • Excavate a sump hole at the low end of the stream
  • Make a pool at the top end of the stream, allowing the water to trickle over into the stream proper
  • Cover the hole with a layer of geo-textile and butyl.
  • Cover the layer with a 10cm layer of concrete
  • Install a water-delivery pipe that runs from the sump pool to the top end of the stream.
  • Carefully fit the pump in the sump
  • Sculpt the banks to make them curved with places to relax
  • Plant Japanese irises, grasses and other plants that flourish in damp conditions.

Care and maintenance

Make sure that the pump is always in good working order as it supplies the life blood of the meadow-stream garden. Remove all rubbish, debris, mud and dead leaves from the sump. Ensure that both ends of the water pipe are left clear. Remove and clean the water pump from time to time. Never allow the sump to have low water levels.... always top it up when the level drops.