How to set up a small imperfect garden pond.

The best of us call it a Water Feature.

But I’ll tell you exactly what it is. It’s a container (pond container) you buy at your local Home Improvement store, fill the bottom with 3-4in heavy clay soil (you get on a local hike, choose the one where you hike up a mountain, more on this later), a few slate rocks, river rocks, and a couple of water lilies.

If you feel fancy get a pond liner too.

I know you are dying to make it dirty expensive, so I will recommend getting a Solar Pump (the best investment I EVER MADE for my pond. And I’m truly proud of this one, because we should all know how hard it is to find the one that works. You know.. Solar this, solar that.

And if you feel EXTRA, I’ll help you make it even more expensive.

Here, get this…

Nope, It’s not the link, cause I want you to keep reading duh….

It does this:

Yes, I want you to get submerged into my mini water fountain, water feature, bird bath, mini pond and whatever else you would like to call it. Let your imagination run free when you plan it.

You may not know this but there are professional companies out there who specialize in building ponds, small and large, as part of their landscaping services. Something tells me though,

YOU like it IMPERFECT

Keep on reading,

You are in the right place. Since I started writing this post, I have updated my water feature mini pond set up and I will share both versions.

Water ASMR anybody? Below is the earlier version of my pond,…. right, I had to save up for that “waterfall cascade” part.

You can see the solar panel at the end of the video, it connects to the storage battery, sold separately. You want to buy both, the SOLAR PANEL and the BATTERY to insure continuous pumping.

It may surprise you, but the solar panels alone won’t work as you think they should. I learned it the hard way and we don’t even live in London. The best scenario is to store the “sun” energy for anything to work properly.

Here is the solar panel and battery I purchased. I ordered directly from the company’s website, not Amazon. The girl on the phone sounded surprised she even got a phone call, but I wanted to make sure that this time the stuff I buy works.

I think they shipped it via Amazon anyway.

However, they don’t seem to sell it on their website anymore. The main thing you need to understand is you need storage (battery) for all the energy you solar panel generates. For times when there is no sun for a few minutes, your pump will run off of the battery.

clay

People have a problem with this one the most, because it’s not readily available in stores and unless you are unlucky enough to live in the area with primarily heavy clay you are doomed to find it in store. Well, sort of…

I will address your concerns right here.

You gotta take a hike,

I mean it.

And here is the toughest one, take a hike a couple days after it rains. So you can see for yourself what clay soil is and feel how heavy it is. Yes, I want you to experience the weight and the misery of having to carry that weight down the hill, just like I did. It’s a good workout, so you will definitely feel good about yourself the next day.

A little photographic lesson on geology of California. California was completely under water not so long ago, just a few million years (I uploaded a few pics below from a couple of my hikes, just to prove it to you), so all the mountainous parts, hills etc have some heavy clay soils that retain water like life depends on it and it does.

Check out this Rock formation (youtube link) in Topanga Canyon from one of my hiking adventures.

I take it you aren’t building a 900 sq.ft pond, so a couple of tough store grocery bags will do, to sustain a few lily plants in the pond. Lilies love clay soil. You can add sand and some river rocks too, or purchase a fancy substrate online which you have to rinse just a little over a hundred times, just enough to keep the water in your pond clear (on that later, keep on reading).

Know this

There is nothing the insulation tape can’t fix. You will understand when you assemble your pumping system.

One crucial accessory you will need to get is corrugated tubing, that connects your water pump to the waterfall cascade.

Now, I wrapped the insulation tape around the water pump’s end to make it fit tightly into this 3/4in tubing.

The pump’s end width is less than 3/4in. You can avoid this problem by purchasing 3/8in tubing. Depends on a pump you get.

I skipped the extra step of measuring things before making my purchase decisions. In my defense, wider tubing is more efficient, you may use it for other time wasting projects.

How to insure you water stays clear is the question of the day.

I will tell you what worked for me.

Patience.

You can’t underestimate it.

Look at this and find something similar if you can’t find it. Chewy sell it.

Now, I said patience for a reason. It won’t work overnight. Not even in a week if you are trying to clear your pond in winter (yes, including California), but it’s the safest solution with the best possible result for a small pond, in my personal experience.

You also have to remove all the dead leaves and debris etc, as part of normal maintenance routine.

A word on raccoons and other wild friends.

I am routing for a HARMLESS solution here for all parties involved. If you get easily agitated by the wildlife, do not get the pond.

Raccoons have no malicious intent to ruin your pond for the sake of fun, trust me. They were attracted to mine because of the “frog” sounds my pump was making at night. I found that out by accident. They would pull the water pump out of the pond and knock over a few things.

I had to rethink my water feature set up by removing the fountain head (that was making the strange noise) and eventually buying the waterfall cascade.

I also added motion activated, bright, solar charged portable lights. Raccoons tend to stay away from bright lights.

One last thing

You already know where to find the best water feature, so if you do have 900 sq ft for a pond, copy from the best.

Cheers,