WATER FEATURES | Taking the fear out of designing ponds!

Water Features! For me water features are the ultimate marmite feature within a project… some love them and some run a mile at the thought! But why? I’d say it’s all down to knowledge, historically where would you turn for advice and guidance when planning a water feature? It’s at this very point that the Landscapeplus Design Support Service comes into its own.
 
We’re most definitely not Garden Designers or Water Feature builders but we have spent countless hours working with professionals planning the ‘behind the scene’ kit that makes it all happen. In this month’s blog I’m going to take a closer look at some of the common worries or mistakes that we see…

"What is a water feature? Is a pond a water feature?" | For years when asked what Landscapeplus supplied we’d answer Lighting, Irrigation and Pond products (or if you ask Paul, LIPs!) but more recently we’d say Lighting, Irrigation and Water Feature products (LIWF?) and that’s purely down to demand. 

We can help with anything from this:

to this:

to this:

or even this:

"How to make it waterproof?" | Now this might sound a rather basic starting point but all of the above need to hold water and when it goes wrong it’s such a shame as it’s so easily avoided. For us, the starting point is always a pond liner, buy quality and it’ll last! Brands such as Firestone or GreenSeal are brilliant, flexible, UV stable (unlike the cheap PVC options!) and importantly long lasting (30+ years). When we say pond liner so many people will picture your typical garden pond with sloped sides and goldfish however it’s often used in formal features too! Box welding is a phrase you might have noticed is used more and more, these are factory made liners that will drop straight into the structure you’re looking to waterproof, give a great finish and most importantly remove the need to cut and join on site. Below is an example of a box welded liner to show you just one possibility.

"I don’t want to see the pump" | This request is becoming more and more common and is often linked to a formal feature – good news, it’s perfectly possible with the correct planning! A common method is to have the pumps hidden below a false floor as shown in the below image, this not only hides any unsightly pumps but will also help with water temperature, a subject I’ll touch on further into the blog. Another option is to have a separate pump chamber that is linked to the main feature, key point to remember for this option is that a pump will only push water and will not pull water so it needs gravity to supply the water (the pump still needs to be below water level).

"Why does my pond look like this?" | Shallow formal features, far too often we see these after the event usually with a lovely ‘pea soup’ appearance! The starting point of poor water quality within a shallow feature is usually water temperature which can encourage single cell algae growth. Algae itself will reduce oxygen levels within water creating a vicious cycle of conditions until the water is full of algae. 

So how do you counteract this? A great way of doing so is to incorporate a ‘pond-less’ element to your feature where there is an underground body of water, this extra capacity will help keep temperatures down and is the perfect place to hide a pump or even add an aerator!

Hopefully these few simple tips can be of help when you find yourself planning a your next water feature. As always, if in doubt please get in touch with one of our team and we’d be more than happy to help!

Have any questions feel free to give us a call on 01666 577577 or email sales@landscapeplus.com.