Garden Water Feature

As you may remember, on our Anniversary day out in Welshpool, Anna and I spent more money than we had planned and came back with a water feature for the garden. We bought it from Derwen Garden Centre which was where we spent most of our day. They were all very helpful and we’re planning a trip there again sometime soon.

Water Feature

The water feature itself is a ‘twisted column’ of rock and it was supposed to stand on top of a grill covering a sump. The sump contains a reservoir of water and a pump which pumps water up through a hole in the middle of the column where it bubbles out of the top and flows down all fours sides of the column back into the sump. We complicated things a little as we wanted a standing pool of water as well as the water running down the column. The idea was to make sure that there was water available for the bird, bees and other garden wildlife at all times and so that we had a pool of water in the garden even if the pump was switched off.

The plan therefore was to also buy a large shallow pot in which we could stand the column of rock. The water then flows down the column of rock, into the bowl and then over the sides of the bowl into the sump. Perfect.

Hole for Sump

As soon as we got back with all of the bits and pieces I set to work setting it up. The first job was to dig a hole for the sump to sit in. Our garden soil is sand, not sandy soil, just sand like on the beach so this was easy and within 5 minutes I had the hole ready for the sump.

I also had to dig a trench to lay the cable for the pump. This had to go inside some armoured piping and we just happened to have something suitable on the other side of the garden that wasn’t being used so I had to dig that up first.

The first problem we encountered was that the 10m cable on the pump  was a couple of metres too short, so I headed of to the shop and bought an extension and a water proof junction box. Threading the cable through the armoured piping took a little longer than expected, but we soon had the pump plugged in and the cable buried out of sight under the garden.

Installing the sump

The sump was lowered into its hole and levelled up, the pumped was installed and the grill put on top of sump.

Next I had to prepare the bowl. We needed to drill a hole in the bottom of it for the pipe to go through and then seal the pipe into it so that it was water tight. This was all fairly straight forward and after leaving it to dry overnight we tested the water tightness of the bowl and started planning the installation of the column of rock.

Preparing the bowl

We placed some sand in the bottom of the bowl to stand the rock on and then with some help (as the rock is surprisingly heavy) man-handled the rock into position whilst feeding the pipe up through the hole in the middle. We placed a number of rubber bands around the top of the pipe which helped to seal it into the central hole in the rock.

Once it was all in place, we switched on the pump to test it, and it soon became apparent that the rock wasn’t exactly stable. I guess that is kind of obvious really, a metre tall column of rock that is only 8 inches square is never going to be that secure just stood up on its own. We didn’t want it to blow over or worse still get knocked over by a child so a new plan was hatched – We would concrete it into the bowl. The concrete would fix it to the bowl and provide a large, heavy stable base.

It took us a while to find a break in the weather and suitable man-power to help lift the stone but we finally got around to it this weekend.

Getting it level

The main worry was that everything had to be completely level. In order for the water to flow out of the bowl all the way around it, the top of the bowl had to be totally level when sat on the grill. In addition the column of rock had to also be completely level so that the water would flow out across the flat top and down all four sides equally. Trouble is, once you’ve set it in concrete it is pretty much ‘set in stone’ and there can be no final tweaks and adjustments once the water is switched on. We couldn’t turn the water on though until the concrete had set so we had to make sure it was all level and hope for the best.

We got the bowl completely level, man-handled the column into place whilst threading the tube into its hole once again and then fiddled around getting the column completely level. After a final check on the levels of both the bowl and the column we mixed up some concrete and half filled the bowl with it. Another quick check on the levels as it set and that was that.

We left it to dry overnight and then came the moment of truth, turning on the pump. Was it level, had we crushed the pipe, would it all work properly?

The answer was, yes, yes and yes, everything was just perfect. The water bubbled out the top at just the right power, flowed across the top of the column and down all four sides perfectly. The bowl filled with water and didn’t leak and then the water flowed out all the way around the bowl and into the sump. The column felt secure and stable and all looked good.

We then placed a few plants around the base of the bowl along with some bits of slate to tie in with the rock of the columns, sat back and enjoyed the sight and sound of running water in the garden.

Water Feature

Tags: GardeningWater feature