Landscaping

For artists and designers alike, it is the fountain that has really gripped the imagination. Art and artistry abounds with ideas and gimmicks that demand your attention; one minute amazing you, the next, you are tittering with laughter. Amusement comes from deliberate leaking taps, to wild wicker women, even gushing computers and swirling birdbaths. Stunning effects come from how the water is sprayed and the way that this can be picked up by underwater lighting. This has come within a sensible budget in recent years particularly in the safe 12volt ranges. This form of lighting is as easy to place and fit as the submersible pump; the magic comes from its discreet positioning. But here is a warning: when you are fitting it to the mains supply, make sure the power supply is from a separately fused source to your domestic supply and also everything else in the garden, since their reliability is still not up to the standard of the other power consuming products you might use in and around the water garden and garden itself.

PRACTICAL REASONS FOR HAVING A FOUNTAIN

Otterbine make fountains that oxygenate and munch up algae at the same time.•    If your pool is heavily stocked with fish then a fountain is almost essential. They help to provide a supply of oxygenated water at times when any plant life has ceased to release any or enough. Dark sultry hot summer days and humid summer evenings with fish metabolism high and oxygen dependent bacteria exceedingly active in the bottom of the pool, oxygen is more in demand than at any other time. And what is worse, the oxygenating plants are doing less than providing oxygen; at night they absorb it.
•    There are some fountains that not only oxygenate but also munch up and damage algae (the type that causes green water) in their dramatic spray action. They tend to be like those big ones in golf course lagoons.
•    The noise of a cascade fountain provides a pleasant blanket for background noise like traffic or other people talking. It enables you to talk in private in a relatively crowded place because your voice will not carry very far over the sound of splashing water.
•    Water in the air provides a cooling effect that is most easily appreciated in the precincts and courtyards of Spain, where for centuries the fountain has provided a social point at which to relax and refresh your self.
•    The fountain lifts any small pond to a more significant status, giving it life (in more than one sense) making it an energetic focal point. They work best from a design point of view in formal gardens. Placed at a central point or duplicated across a garden scene, they help to define a formal design.

WALL FOUNTAINS

 
Wall Fountains can be self-contained, and as such form the most minute feature
to which a water garden can shrink. They can also give an imaginative
purpose to the start of a stream or rill. TaLiz Roberts and Mary Macgregor designed and built this garden 'Dreaming of Italy' for the Tatton Park Flower Show: It shows the simple use of a preformed drainage channel making a rill to a pool. The water appears to come from a simple wall fountain, but the rill is likely to have an extra feed at the 'header pool' level.king the long tradition
from Roman times we almost expect to see a spring-head or outlet or
even any conduit of fresh water to be adorned with a figure. Originally
perhaps it was as a reminder of what god we ought to thank for this
life sustaining fluid, but the effect of the water spouting is to bring
the ornament itself to life. It is easy to see why water spouts with
figures attached became popular.
Although the theory of adding a water spout to a pool, or a wall
fountain to a wall is quite simple it does in the first instance
require a wall through which the pipe-work from the pump must be
threaded, and in the case of a wall fountain – the cable for the pump
in the feature reservoir needs a conduit to the mains. The most
professional approach for the former is a double skinned wall with the
spout on one side and the pipework travelling between. If the wall with
the spout on it is only viewed from the front then the pipe from the
pump can run through the base of the wall almost at pool level and
connect up with a pipe from the spout higher up.

Natural Swimming Ponds – A Guide for Building by Michael Littlewood. pub: Agri Media at £49.95 ISBN 978-3-86037-350-7

Do you like the idea of a swimming pool that is not full of harmful chemicals and keeps itself clean naturally, working in harmony with nature to give you the most blissful swimming experience you The experience of swimming in naturally clean water untainted by any chemicals or salt is an experience never to be forgottencould ever imagine? If it sounds a bit too much of an ideal and you are even having difficulty keeping your fish pond clear and not get all clogged up with algae or blanket weed then you will understand that the construction and planting of such a thing has to be somewhat special. To ensure clarity of water and sustainability, every aspect of the construction of the pool has to be exactly right. Although the initial overall concept sounds simple, to get it right, a lot of things have to be taken into account, done in the right order and in the end it all works out to be quite expensive. So the last thing you want is a cock up and for you to be uneffectively pouring money into a hole in the ground. The concept is new, but already there are a lot of people out there that claim to know all about it. Some are great craftsmen and deserve more work than they get. Others are complete charlatans and deserve to be ‘outed’.

So how are you going to tell what is the right way of going about making a swimming pond? If there are so many things to take into account, it must be possible to forget some things or leave out others that don’t get noticed until it is too late? That is very true and it is one of the problems that everyone who has a swimming pond up until now has had to face i.e. do the guys I’m employing know what they are doing and are they doing it right?

Well now for just a little less than £50 you have can have a bible, the veritable gospel according to Michael Littlewood – about Natural Swimming Pools. He has already produced one tome that has spread the word, a taster on the techniques, illustrating the possibilities. This was “Natural Swimming Pools” described as “inspiration for harmony with nature”- available from the Amazon store on this site. But now we have the manual  - not just a flimsy step-by-step instruction affair like you might get free with IKEA furniture kit. This is a serious hand-holding guide through the minefield of information and misinformation that blasts from all quarters. Believe you me, with this little honey you can take on all comers and lay it on the line as to how it has got to be done. That not only includes how it is going be, how much, what to order and in what order.

The next phase of the development of what was going to be the biggest water garden in the Caribbean was to build a stream linking the two enormous ponds at the site in Buccament Bay in St Vincent. This was essentialThe site of the proposed stream.: First the pipe that was meant to take the water was dug out. It was sloping in the wrong direction anyway. since it was to carry away the water from the torrential rain that hits that part of St Vincent virtually on a daily basis and particularly during November throught to February. Two inches of extra water could easily be added to the surface of each pond in as many hours, so a rough calculation of what width of stream was required was about 2metres. This would allow for a 4ft waterway once the facing stone on the inside of the stream was taken into account. The length was ordained by the position of the giant ponds. We had a length to cover of about eighteen metres between the ponds and a fall of only just over 18cm. 1 in 100 fall is a bit tight to play with (1 in 80 is better), so we would have to ensure it was plenty deep enough.

It was my idea to make the stream an ornamental feature. The original scheme was to have the water disappear under ground into 'outfalls', basically sumps that were sealed to a massive pipe, which would carry it to the next pond or out to the river. These were already installed as part of the initial groundworks of the site, but using these would mean cutting and stretching the liner that was lying on ground that was very variable and unconsolidated in places. Settlement was bound to occur. There was a finality to the decision to get rid of the underground pipes when  we discovered the pipes had been installed sloping in the wrong direction, so they would not been able to carry any water away anyway.

SUBTLE STREAMS WITH LINERS

If you think that to create a stream all you need to do is cut a sloping trench in the ground and line it with butyl or PVC and disguise it with a few stones or pebbles, then read on.  What you would have reinvented is the ditch, or with pebbles in it - a ‘French Drain’.  These are engineered devices to shift as much water as quickly as possible from an area that needs draining to an area where it can be dispersed. Here function rules over aesthetics, we want the reverse.

TIPS FROM YER MAN UPSTAIRS

A stream has a timeless quality that makes you feel as though it has always been there. In fact it is ever changing with the seasons and the years and in that time it would have etched itself into the landscape, deeper and deeper.Janet's Foss up in near Wendsleydale in North Yorkshire: An oasis of natural serenity amongst the harshness of a predominantly rocky landscape. So even if the simplest concrete or plastic performed stream unit is set down in a valley or a cleft it would instantly look right.
Streams always lead to somewhere, preferably from somewhere. Where they go to and when they arrive there is usually something of a visual treat. Where your stream emerges into your pool, it should widen out and enter with a flourish that is a fitting focal point for the whole of your water garden.

PLANTS AND STREAMS

The stream the wends its way round Dunster: Note the natural beaches.In nature, we see streams that have evolved from vast, unbridgeable valley wide rivers, to quiet wending backwaters cut into a rich sediment deposited from a former majesty. The surrounding undergrowth is lush, and if not food for grazing animals, hides a treasured atmosphere of blissful calm. So plant up your stream edges, paying as much attention to them as you would the marginal zones in the pool. There is a whole host of plants adapted to stream sides designed even enjoy the occasional flood like Iris ensata, Saponaria ocymoides and Veronica beccabunga to name only three.
Plant up the stream itself too. This is an ideal opportunity to do a little bit of extra biological filtration and oxygenation. Grasses like Acorus gramineus and Carex Bowles Golden always look happier out of the flow, but oxygenators like  Ranunculus aquaticus, Crowfoot – the true water buttercup, and Potamogeton crispa with its ruddy crinkled leaves, waft and sway dramatically, adding extra movement to the action of the water.

MOVING WATER FEATURES

For those of you that have been fortunate enough to visit the sensationally atmospheric water gardens of the General Life at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, southern Spain, you will appreciate the extra dimension moving Chenies and Brian Tom produced these clattering birds at Hampton Court many moons ago.water lends to a Garden even if it just gently trickling. The Alhambra was the summer residence of the Moorish Islamic sultans of Granada. The gardens, designed for contemplation in serenity, are in fact a series of 'patios' through which the flow of water leads you. Water is never concealed and never still in Islamic gardens, busily moving from its source to the exit of the garden, refreshing the atmosphere and murmuring through the vaulted interiors.

For the Moors, the moving water and the fountain jets all had their significance and symbolism in the meaning of life. In the west moving water was later used in entertainment as in awesome loud gushing fountains or waterfalls or used in a 'theatre' to drive automata - or literally moving water features, perhaps creating sound and power for whistling chirping robot birds in a metal tree: natural power for technological innovation. These started in Italy and the fashion moved to France and many of the English landed aristocracy copied some of the ideas in theri grand gardens in England. The power to all these aquatic fantasies was derived from the 'head' of a reservior or lake from land much higher up on the estate piped down to the fountain or waterfall.

These days we have made certain moves 'back to nature' and try to create something of the natural world in our back gardens now that we are so far from it in our day-to-day existence. Instead of employing the natural resources of the countryside (i.e. lakes and flowing streams) to power the technology that illustrates our fantasies, we create a fantasy of nature powered by our modern technology.

POWER TO OUR FANTASY- ELECTRICAL SUPPLY TO THE PUMPS FOR GARDEN PONDS AND WATER FEATURES

A professionally installed electrical supply to a large pond and fountain installation: Note the trip switches and timers. There is also an automatic lighting for the display as dusk approaches.Whether we have in mind to create a fountain, a waterfall, a stream or even to pump pond water to a biological filtration unit,  I would suggest that the first thing to consider is the electrical power to the site. This should have been considered and planned for This was the fountain feature: It required three pumps capable of supplying 8,000 gallons per hour at ground level.before any part of the water garden project was started. Therefore having reached the waterfall/fountain installation or creation stage, there should already be a 13 amp armoured cable running to the side of the pool. This will have its own RCD trip and be on a separate circuit to the household electricity. OK? Good, I just like to make sure.
You will have planned as if you were going to include all the possible accessories and features even if it hadn't crossed your mind to have a pool heater, a pump for an ‘inpool’ fountain, filter and filter pump, u/v lamp, waterfall, rockery lights, underwater lights and squirting frog (?).

PUMPS FOR FOUNTAINS or WATERFALLS?

Choose a pump for its (a) guarantee (Is it continuously rated? That is, does the guarantee cover it for use 24 hours a day 7 days a week? ).  
(b) Availability locally from a retailer you like and get on with.
(c) Its performance. This includes its suitability for its purpose. You dont want a pump that needs the protection of a thick foam pre-filter if it is meant to be supplying water to a filter system before it cascades down a stream or supply water full of organic debris to a biological filter.

INSTALLING PREFORMED WATERFALL AND STREAM UNITS

Preformed waterfall units come in all shapes and sizes. Shop around.These allow you to create a gentle waterfall almost instantly for any distance that you may dare to go or can afford. Although they seem unsympathetic with the environment to begin with, a bit of a roughing up with some emery or sand paper will soon help to 'weather' them in. Milk, honey, cow muck or a concoction of all three sloshed on will speed that up as well.

But talking of the environment, this is where these products really win out against natural stone. When you consider that the stone for even a modest waterfall might come to the best part of a ton in weight, it has to be remembered that some hillside has to be ravaged to obtain that stone. As far as you are concerned there is all that heavy lifting and carting of the materials and then the time consuming cement work. For the owner of a small inaccessible garden, these are things that definitely weigh heavily in the balance for the easier option, especially now these preformed streams and waterfalls look so good.

Using a framework or skeleton to make your stream or waterfall a permanent feature

This is a technique to be used in made up, or unstable ground, or loose sandy soil. You will be using all the techniques in the BEGINNER'S GUIDE To BUILDING STREAMS: PART 3 ,  but you will be stabilizing the rockwork and holding it in permanent position by using a blockwork skeleton.

HOW To Build NATURAL LOOKING WATERFALLS INTO COMPACTED SOIL USING A POND LINER (Definitely DIY method)

This is an extended version of the article The Quickfire Guide to Building Waterfalls (click on the title to go there)

STREAM AND WATERFALL LINING MATERIALS

Streams and waterfalls for the more grand water gardens are most effective and reliable when waterproofed with a concealed flexible liner. However having said that, many of the most well known contractors in theButyl and Firestone rubber are my favourite materials for lining streams and water falls. country, renowned for the enormous rockscapes they create, just depend upon reinforced concrete without a liner.