Links to Peter May Practical Landscaping Tips
Building Your Own Pond from a Pond Liner Kit
Building Your Own Pond from a Pond Liner Kit. Complete Instructions. What's in the kit? 1 2.5m x 3m (8ft x 10ft) 0.35mm PVC pond liner. enough to make a pond approximately 1.5m x 2.1m x 0.45m deep...
Interesting pond maintenance articles
Peter J May's Perfect pond maintenance. Planting and maintaining good water pond plants
Peter J May's Perfect pond maintenance. Your Water garden calendar
Peter May's secret to the perfect pond maintenance. Every pond needs a filter system this is why?
The Perfect pond maintenance, pond filters, water clarifiers and biological filtration...
How To Build Your Own Pond Installing the Pump Pond Filter
How To Build Your Own Pond | Installing the Pump & Pond Filter. The picture below is to remind you of what we want to finish up with. namely an attractively edged,...
How To Build Your Own Pond Starting with a Typical Liner Kit
How To Build Your Own Pond Starting with a Typical Liner Kit. If you have longed for a water feature in your garden but never had the courage to start the pond project then now's your chance...
How To Choose Aquatic Plants and Plant Your Garden Pond
How To Choose Aquatic Plants and Plant Your Garden Pond. The pond needs to be planted with a complete cross section of plants in order to help the biological filter keep your pond clear. It will need...
How To Dig the Correct PondSized and Landscaped Hole in the
How To Dig the Correct Pond-Sized and Landscaped Hole in the Ground. If you don't like digging too much then complete the dig in stages so you don't take short cuts and get too tired...
How To Install Flexible Pond Liner Correctly
How To Install Flexible Pond Liner Correctly. This is where we left off on the last page. Leaving a shelf area 25cm wide, excavate a further 22cm to 25cm deeper within the initial investigation...
How To Prepare the Pond Site Select the Pond Shape
How To Prepare the Pond Site & Select the Pond Shape. The basic rule for siting any pond is to place it where you can enjoy it most. This means normally place it where you can see it from well used parts of the house...
Pond Liner Kit Filling with Water and Creating a Pond Edging
Filling with Water and Creating a Pond Edging. You have just finished installing the liner and started to fill with water. Here's the reminder of that step. Lay the liner into place in the excavation...
DIY Water Feature Landscaping and Landscapers Experience
DIY Water Feature Landscaping and Landscaper's Experience. Explore the limitations and the possibilities of your water gardening ideas and pond designs and then avoid the pitfalls and unnecessary expense at each stage of construction...
Dressing the Inside of Pond with Walling or Rockery Stone
To give the appearance that the pond is constructed from solid stone, either with a wall or rockery stone, by dressing the inside of the pond down to the marginal level.
Dressing Inside of Pond Method Using Brick to Disguise Liner
Here flat bottomed rockery stone sits on the marginal shelf and is built up to, or just below, the water level of the pond forming a trough which is lined with underlay. This creates the marginal planting area.
How To Use This Pond Landscaping Website Estimating Avoiding
In choosing the style of water garden you have in mind it would be advisable to browse through the rest of the pages on the site familiarising yourself with the style and presentation employed. In so doing you can then note the pages relevant to your project and thus build up what will be your own personal recipe for the water garden you had in mind. You can use the grid style index to tick off the topics that are relevant to you too.
Pond Landscaping DIY Water Features Made Easy for Everybody
Peter J. May has created detailed informative sketches with clearly written text that demonstrates the techniques to use, and the quantities of materials involved.
Planning Size Shape Materials for Your Water Feature
Plan every single sod of earth you dig and cost every trowel of cement you mix. Go through the job from start to finish in your mind working out quantities and costs of materials.
Pond Design Adding Other Garden Features in the Landscape
Although these features fit in perfectly with general principles employed on this site, it is imperative that if they are required they be incorporated in the plan right from the start especially the beach.
Pond Design for a Formal Pond Lined Set Into Patio
In planning: work to standard liner widths. 1) Dig hole to correct size plus 10 to allow room for concrete blocks. 2) Lay 4 x 18 x 9 concrete blocks on a 4 footing. (see Raised preformed ponds) 3) An inside row of concrete blocks is laid and backfilled with 6:1 concrete mix to form a marginal shelf. 4) 2 of sand is laid in the bottom.
How to Create A Pond Framework to Accept a Flexible Pond Liner
How to Create A Pond Framework to Accept a Flexible Pond Liner.1) Excavate a trench at least 6 deep and 10 wide, the middle of which will be the circumference of the pond.
How to Prepare and Lay A Flexible Pond Liner
How to Prepare and Lay A Flexible Pond Liner. TIP: Keep the shape simple. TIP: Trowel the sand flat with a plasterers float.
Landscaping Ponds Tips and Formulae and Material Quantities
Landscaping Ponds Tips and Formulae and Material Quantities. Calculating your liner size. Liner Length m/ft = Maximum pond length m/ft + (2 X maximum pond depth m/ft) + 0.3m (1ft) overlap....
Landscaping Ponds Streams Using Flexible Rubber or Plastic Pond
This sort of feature is best set up against a strong reinforced wall to avoid the hump look and an excess use of stone. In fact the most effective method of landscaping a stream is to set it in a cleft in an existing bank with the strata of the rock showing at the waterfalls disappearing right and left into the grass of the bank.
Ponds Streams Using Flexible Liner Dig Create Levels
Decisions Required ... 1) Site and aspect and details of design. 2) Are you going to face the inside of the pond with rockery stone, building stone or wood or nothing?
Landscaping A Wildlife or Natural Conservationist Pond
The pond is created using the basic techniques, but a hump is left on the inside edge of the marginal shelf. Underlay is laid on top of and below the liner in order to protect it. Soil (a rough sandy sub-soil is best) is laid on top of this smoothing out the levels cut by the excavation, to a dish with gently sloping sides. This creates a natural look and easy access for wildlife.
Siting the Preformed Pond and Making the First Dig
Decisions you have to make before starting to dig ... 1) Siting and size and shape. 2) Is the pond to be set in the ground, half in the ground or what? 3) Is the site level? If not is the pond to be rising out of the ground or is the other end to be set in the ground?
Installing and Fitting the Preformed Pond and Making the Second Dig
The earth from the excavation can be saved to form the basis of a waterfall or rockery. Be careful not to waste the first few inches of topsoil by covering it with subsoil as the digging out proceeds.
Preformed Pond Making the Backfill and Path Preparation
Using the remainder of the sand, backfill between the pond and the surrounding soil. This is most effective whilst filling the pond with water, washing the sand down the gap using the hose. Great care must be taken to ensure that the backwash between the pond and soil does not rise above the level of water in the pond.
Preformed Pond Laying the Pond Edging
Lay 5 mm of scalpings or 25mm chippings-to-dust laid in a dry mix with 6 to 1 cement or compacted into the path area. This should finish level with the lip on the pond edge. Create a tube to carry cables and a pile of stones for wildlife exit to safety
Installing and Landscaping Preformed Waterfalls
Decide ... 1) where the waterfall will enter the pond. It looks best arriving at the most curved out part of the pond. 2) What shapes you will use? Always have a header pond at the top. This guarantees the falls having an even flow. 1inch of sand
Landscaping a Preformed Pond Above Ground Formal or Informal Shape
The alternative of having a raised pond, or partially raised, gives a variety of possible basic designs. Installing a raised water feature is of course more expensive and time consuming to build.
Landscaping a Preformed Pond Above Ground Continued
How to install a basic simple above ground (raised) pond. Tools Required ... Spade, shovel, level, trowel, pegs, lump hammer. Materials Required ... Sand, cement, chippings, stone or brick, slabs or paving.
Pond Landscaping by Peter May Site Map
Pond Landscaping by Peter May Site Map
Make Sure You Put Your Water Feature in the Right Place
The first thoughts for the benefit of the water garden are in regards to siting. Check these points. The pond should be in full sun. Nearly all plants associated with water need some direct sunlight to flower especially lilies.
Lining a Stream with Pond Liner
Estimate the stream liner length as length on the horizontal + 2 x head. Width is governed by liner strips. 5ft wide liner produces 2ft to 2ft 6ins header ponds, with 9 to 12 outlets. 10ft liner 4ft to 6ft header with up to 2ft outlets.
Waterfall Facing Techniques for Formal or Japanese Mirror Waterfalls
Waterfall Facing Techniques for Formal or Mirror Waterfalls.JAPANESE RIBBON WATERFALL Footing required White water boulder cascade BASIC INFORMAL FALL SIMPLE JAPANESE PATTERN.
Landscaping A Framework for Waterfalls with Liners
1) Divide it into a series of ponds, one dropping into another. Make sure the soil is well compacted (see below), allow space for a skeleton of concrete blocks to be laid that will define the watercourse. At each the blocks must be laid level (see below) apart from an outlet, at least 4 below the block level, for the water to flow out into the next level.
Landscaping A Framework for Shallow Streams
1) Mark out the course of the stream bearing in mind the performance of the pump you intend to use. Estimate 1 of sill per 50-60 gallons to the destined height, and add on the width of the inside facing stone. If using heavy stone ...
Landscaping Smaller Water Features with Economy Safety in Mind
Large pots or old buckets or bricks and stones can sit in the bottom with the pump lending support to the mesh. The excavation has been made just deep enough to allow the tip of the pump to emerge through the cobbles.