A little water music: how to add the magic of falling water to your garden

Sunset, August, 2002 by Jim McCausland

Free-floating plants, such as water lettuce (Pistia), dangle their roots in the water, from which they take up nutrients.

Fish

They dine on mosquito larvae and help keep the pond water balanced and clean. A rule of thumb: Stock your pond with 1 inch of fish for every square foot of water surface. Add them three or four days after the pond is filled with water.

Rocks

Choose ones that are angular enough to be stackable but rounded enough that they won't poke holes in your liner.

Plant shelf

This is a ledge for potted plants. Generally, make it 1 foot below the waterline and at least 1 foot wide, although it can vary based on plants' needs.

Gravel

It fills spaces between rocks. For a natural look, use two sizes (3/8-inch and 5/8-inch); mix them in a wheelbarrow.

Liner

The best kind is a flexible, UV-resistant material such as 45-mil EPDM rubber, which is fish-safe, patchable, and warranted for 20 years or longer.

Underlayment

This is a sheet of woven plastic padding. It helps protect the liner from punctures by rocks or other sharp objects in the soil beneath the pond.

Beach

Include a shallow, gravelly section accented with larger stones. Birds love it!

Pump and filters

Pumps recirculate water in a garden pool and deliver it to the head of a waterfall. Filters trap small debris and help keep the water clean.

Create a waterfall garden in 6 steps

To show us the fine points of installing a waterfall using a kit (from Aquascape Designs; www.aquascapedesigns.com), Sunset test garden coordinator Bud Stuckey worked with experts to build one at our headquarters in Menlo Park. The water garden took our five-person crew eight hours to install. A pond this size would cost about $8,000. Two first-timers could build the same thing for a third of the price, but it would take about four days of labor, plus a couple of hours of an electrician's time to bring power to the pump. Design and installation: Kirk Samis of Pondsaway (800/353-4957); landscape designers Barbara Jackel (831/427-2042) and Kurt Christiansen of Christiansen Associates Organic Gardens and Design (831/458-2005); and Kim Kirby of Graniterock (888/762-5100 or www.graniterock.com).

1. Outline the pond. Use a hose to try different shapes before committing to the final pond shape. Then outline it with bright spray paint.

2. Dig the hole. Use a shovel to excavate the soil to about 8 to 12 inches below grade. Also dig holes about 2 feet deep outside the pond, at opposite ends, for the waterfall box and skimmer; position the waterfall box. Then, with spray paint, mark a marginal shelf inside the pond rim for bog plants; dig it about 1 foot below the waterline and at least 1 foot wide. Dig out the pond's center (check its depth by setting a carpenter's level on a 2-by-4 spanning the hole; measure from the bottom of the hole to the bottom of the 2-by-4).

3. Position the skimmer-filter box, heap backfill around it, and connect flexible PVC hose, following kit instructions.

4. Add the liner. With padded underlayment in place, line the hole with the pond liner. Place the folded liner at the waterfall end, then unfold it toward the shallow beach end (a two-person job for large ponds). Adjust the liner to follow the contours of the pond and shelves. For a beach area, overlap the liner as needed, smoothing out the folds. Leave the edges untrimmed until after the pond is filled with water.