Build a Simple Water Feature!

Have you always longed for a water feature in your yard? Something to entertain the birds and add beauty and sound and moving water to a corner of your yard? You've come to the right place! Read on to find out how to install a simple, inexpensive water feature in your very own yard!

Note: This work was part of the classwork for "Elemental Gardening 402: Earth, Water, and Spirit"

First, select a spot for the water feature. You'll need to have access to a power source to run the pump, and you'll also need to be able to add water to it from a garden hose. Also, you may not want to site it under a "drippy" or leafy tree, as that'll make it harder to keep clean.

You'll need the following materials:

• A full-sized plastic garbage can
• A saw or heavy industrial scissors capable of cutting the can
• A shovel
• A carpenter's level
• A permanent marker
• A cinder block
• A medium pond pump-- suitable to pump the water slightly above the height of the water feature
• A rock hammer
• A ceramic pot or urn, with a hole drilled in the bottom (the hole should be at least 5/8")
• A terra cotta pot that fits snugly in the urn's mouth
• 1/2 inch black pond tubing-- as long as your urn is high, plus about 2 feet
• Plumber's putty

Cut the garbage can into two pieces around its equator and about 1/3 up from the bottom. Dig a hole big enough to hold the garbage can's base, with about 4-5" sticking up above ground. This base will form your underground pool and will be invisible when you're done. The base of the hole must be level.

Above is a close up of the base. Optional: place about 1" of mason's sand in the bottom of the hole, as a support for the base. (This may mean digging the hole a bit deeper.)


Turn the trashcan lid upside down. Center the cinder block on it and use the permanent marker to trace around the block, adding about 1/4-1/2" on all sides. Cut out the marked off section (see above).

Next, place the cinder block in the bottom of the base as shown above.

Put the pump inside of the cinder block.

The power cord should come up over the edge of the cinder block, as shown. Note, also, that the output tube is sticking up in the middle of the pump.

Bill used a rock hammer to gently carve out channels under the cinder block, allowing the electric cord to snake out under the block and then up over the edge of the base.

Set the cut-out lid on top of the cinder block

This is what you should end up with. The lid will be supported by the base, with the cinder block just barely sticking up through the cut out. it's important that the set-up look just like this at this point, as your urn will sit on the cinder block. If the cinder block doesn't poke through, you may need to trim the height of the trashcan base an inch or so. And if you do this, you might have to fill in the hole a little, so that the edge of the base remains a few inches above the ground surface.

Test the set-up by placing the urn on the cinder block. Make sure everything is still level.

This is a good time to fill the base with water.

Place large boulders around the edges of the feature, to begin hiding the garbage can lid. We used Columbia plateau basalt, collected from the mountains. (You might say there's an endless supply of this rock around here!)

Continue working until the entire border is rocked in.

Place one end of the 1/2" plastic pond tubing on the pump outflow. Run the free end of the tubing up through the hole in the base of the urn and stand the urn back on the cinder block.

Place the terracotta pot in the mouth of the urn. The tubing should poke up through the bottom of the terracotta pot. Trim the tubing so that about 4" sticks up above the top edge of the urn.

Use plumber's (waterproof) putty to seal the hole around the base of the terra cotta pot and around the opening between the terracotta pot and the larger urn (see above). When water pumps out through the tubing, it will fill up the terracotta pot and bubble over the edges of the urn, running down the urn's sides.

Note the "engineering" principles at work here:

• The base acts like a mini-pond, or storage reservoir, for the water that circulates through the water feature.
• The pump sucks water our of the reservoir and movesit vertically to the top of the urn.
• The water bubbles over the wide and ends up in the inverted trashcan lid. It then runs through the crevice around the cinder block and drips back down into the reservoir, ready to be recycled!

Allow the putty to dry or cure as indicated on the instructions. (Some putties don't require curing.)

Plug in the pump and try out the feature. Notice it burbling in the above picture.

Ideally, the tubing should emit water straight into the air in the exact center of the pot. If the tubing is off center, prop up the tubing with a large stone. Trim the tubing as needed.

Success!

Fill the trashcan lid with river rock or the filler of your choice (lava rock, sea glass, etc.). Add decors as desired.

Voila!

Since the bubbler is mostly enclosed, it is also mostly maintenance free. The most important thing is to make sure the reservoir is always full of water before plugging in the pump. If you're leaving it on continuously, check it at least every two days-- the water evaporates quickly.

Also, if you live in an extremely cold climate, you may want to dissemble the pump in the winter and bring it indoors. Most pumps, however, are made to take a freeze if they stay immersed.

The birds love this water feature in our yard. And it's such a pleasure to sit out next to it on a warm summer evening.