Relaxing in the country is a favorite pastime for many people. The only thing that can compete with him is a trip to the shore of a reservoir. By installing an artificial pond in your dacha, you can get an excellent place to get rid of fatigue and relaxation. Moreover, building an artificial pond with your own hands will not be difficult; you just need a little perseverance and imagination.
Types of reservoirs
Depending on what functionality you plan to provide to the pond you have built, artificial reservoirs can be divided into several categories.
Pool
This category includes artificial reservoirs of significant size. Such a pond, built at the dacha with your own hands, as in the photo, has not only decorative properties, but also allows you to refresh yourself, or even swim, without leaving the site.
Pond with fish
A pond for breeding fish is suitable not only for fishing enthusiasts. Your family members, especially children, will enjoy spending time at the lake, watching the bright and beautiful fish.
Mini pond in the country
A small pond that is an element of the landscape composition. Performs exclusively decorative functions and does not involve placing a recreation area around it.
Decorative pond in the garden
A garden pond, built with your own hands, which is the central place of the recreation area. The combination of sufficient size and beautiful design will not only please the eyes, but will also give pleasant coolness on a hot day.
Style
Having decided on the functionality of the reservoir, it is worth moving on to choosing the style in which the decorative pond at the dacha will be executed. There are two main options.
- Formal (regular) pond. An artificial reservoir of strict geometric shape. Ideal if you want to emphasize the geometric shapes of a building or the site itself. Creates a sense of order and looks appropriate next to geometrically correct flower beds, lawns and other decorative elements on the site.
- Landscape pond at the dacha. It is carried out in any form and fits very easily into the surrounding landscape. This option fits any style and looks as natural as possible. Its construction requires significantly less effort than equipping a geometric reservoir.
Fountain sculptures
In specialized stores you can easily find various statues, water mills and other figures for decorating a water area. When purchasing them, take into account the size of the designed reservoir, and the entire area being improved.
Recently, a type of fountain without an upward jet has become very fashionable and popular. Most often, this structure is a bowl (less often a statue or mask) from which water flows.
If you decorate the fountain with lighting, then this corner of your dacha will turn into a magical place full of charm and enchantment.
Size selection
Having chosen a place on the site that will occupy a pond in the garden, you should decide on the size of the future reservoir. Landscape design specialists do not give clear recommendations in this regard. However, a decorative pond built with your own hands on a summer cottage should not occupy more than 8-10% of the area of the plot, because a larger structure will look like a bulky and alien object.
The depth of a pond in the garden depends on the purposes for which it is created, as well as on the capabilities of the owner, who equips the pond with his own hands on the site. The photos below will help you make your choice.
Let's decide on a place
How to make all the inhabitants of the pond feel comfortable? If you have a large plot of land, then carefully study the area so as not to make a mistake with your choice. There are several secrets that we will share with you.
- The roots of old trees can interfere with the work, and over time, even with the walls of the reservoir. Also, falling leaves and fruits will force you to clean your pond frequently.
- Choose a place with the expectation that the pond will be in the shade for some time so that algae and microorganisms do not develop too actively in it.
- At the same time, the sun is needed for plants along the bank. So you will have to look for the best option, taking these nuances into account.
- If your pond is small but deep, then make sure that it is always within sight when children are playing nearby. And why hide such beauty from view?
- The pond will look best in a depression. They almost always go down to the lake, river, or sea.
Mini pond for the garden
Selection of materials
When arranging ponds on your summer cottage with your own hands, you should approach the choice of material with the utmost care. There are many options for what material is best to use to build a small pond in your dacha with your own hands.
The photos in the article and the list below highlight the following main categories.
Concrete pond
A capital structure, which is the most expensive option for arranging a pond in a country house. The advantages of using this material include increased strength and durability of use.
Plastic container
An industrially made mold made of high-strength plastic allows you to solve the question in the shortest possible time: how to make a pond at your dacha with your own hands. Various shapes and sizes allow you to choose an option suitable for the most demanding owner.
PVC film or polyethylene film
The use of these materials makes it possible to create a garden pond with your own hands of absolutely any shape. The disadvantages of such a material include low resistance to external influences and a short service life
Butyl rubber membrane
A do-it-yourself garden pond made from such a film will please the eye longer than the decorative pond in the photo below made of polyethylene or PVC. When planning how to make a pond on your site with your own hands, it is worth considering that the service life of the membrane reaches 50 years, and the increased resistance of butyl rubber to severe frosts makes it a very advantageous material.
To save money, you can use various available materials. An old bathtub, basin or car tire for a mini pond - these and other “folk” remedies are used to create ponds in the country. Our photo gallery will suggest other original ideas.
Necessary equipment
Depending on the functionality of the reservoir and the material from which it will be made, the following tools may be required during the creation process: a shovel, a cart for transporting excess soil, a level, pegs and a strong cord for marking, as well as a hose for watering. This set of tools will be enough to place mini ponds in your dacha with your own hands, as in the photo above. If the planned pond in the garden is of significant size, it is worth assessing the feasibility of using construction equipment. For a pond intended for fish breeding or designed for a particularly long service life, the installation of additional equipment may be justified:
- An aerator that saturates the water with oxygen necessary for fish.
- Pump for filling or draining water.
- Cleaning filter.
- A device for sterilizing water and removing dead algae.
Manufacturers and prices
The most popular on the market are domestic manufacturers: their products are not much inferior in quality to the well-known German ones, but lower in cost. On the other hand, the durability of products is higher than that of Chinese manufacturers, mainly due to the fact that Russian companies maintain the ratio between the volume of water and the thickness of the pool walls.
Of the German companies whose products were the first to hit the Russian market, the following are the most popular:
- AL-KO is a manufacturer of a variety of gardening machinery and equipment, including decorative landscape elements;
- HEISSNER - specializes in equipment and materials for ponds; in addition to forms for ponds, it produces lighting, cleaners, pumps, and so on. The cost of products is higher compared to Russian ones. Thus, a reservoir with a volume of 250 liters from HEISSNER will cost 4,000 rubles. You can also read the material about pond skimmers.
Plastic ponds presented by this company
Among Russian manufacturers, the most famous companies are:
- "Kris Group" - has been producing products for gardens for more than 15 years;
- "Composite Lux" - provides a 10-year official guarantee;
- "Byusko" - its products are better known under the brand name "Seliger".
The cost of domestic products is more affordable. Thus, ponds with a volume of up to 200 liters can be purchased for 1500–2000 rubles. The average size is up to 900 liters, costs between 6-8 thousand rubles.
The cost of large pools - from 1700 liters increases quite noticeably: fiberglass is used for their manufacture, and this material is more expensive. A product with a volume of about 2000 liters costs from 19,000 to 23,000 rubles, and the largest reservoirs - up to 30,000 liters - cost at least 30 thousand rubles.
It is possible that information about pond aerators will be useful to you.
Details of creating a pond from film
PVC film, due to its performance qualities and relatively low cost, is one of the most popular materials for pond construction. In addition, in order to make a pond with your own hands from PVC film, no special skills or special knowledge are required.
To equip reservoirs, you should not use films with a thickness of less than 0.5 mm, and if you plan to create a particularly deep reservoir, it is better to take a film with the maximum available thickness.
The use of multi-colored film allows you to achieve different optical effects: black will make the bottom of the reservoir mirror-like, and nearby trees and buildings will be clearly reflected in it, brown film is perfect for simulating the soil bottom, and film of light blue or cream tones will make the reservoir as transparent as possible, which will allow you to conveniently observe the movement of fish.
The selected film should be cut so that it covers the bottom and walls of the reservoir, leaving a margin of up to one meter. The cut pieces must be joined with specialized glue or adhesive tape for such work.
Before digging a pit, you need to carefully consider the size, shape of the bottom and walls of the reservoir. If you plan to create a complex multi-stage structure, it is better to first draw a detailed diagram on a sheet of paper indicating all dimensions.
Having marked the selected area, we begin to dig a hole. It is better to remove soil in the direction from the edges of the future reservoir to the center, gradually going deeper to the required limits. The bottom and walls of the finished pit must be carefully examined for the detection of foreign objects, sharp roots, etc. Any debris found must be removed to prevent damage to the film. We lay the prepared film on the compacted bottom of the pits, fixing it with stones and sprinkling the edges with soil.
Next, you need to strengthen the banks of the pond. For this you can use various materials. For flat banks, a geogrid or polymer grid is suitable; you can also use a regular chain-link mesh. For vertical banks, the use of piles or supports will be required.
You can complete the design of the pond by adding various decorative elements, planting plants and installing underwater or outdoor lighting.
Decoration with plants
When decorating a pond in the garden with plants, you should understand that they are divided into those that are planted on the shore along the edges of the pond, and plants that live directly in the water. The root system of shore plants will additionally strengthen the walls of the pond. When planting plants in a pond in the garden, it is important to keep in mind the speed of their growth, otherwise, after a long absence, there is a risk of finding a pond completely covered with a thick carpet of vegetation.
Installing a plastic container in the ground
Please note that when compacting wet sand in the gap between the hole and the sides of the lake, you must simultaneously fill the container with water. This will avoid damaging the bowl, since the pressure of wet sand can cause it to become deformed.
Once the product is installed, give it a couple of days to shrink and start decorating. Typically, the contour of the reservoir is decorated with gravel, a wooden platform, or plants that tolerate high humidity are planted near it. You can breed fish in a plastic lake, but for this the structure must be sufficiently large and deep.
Installing a plastic container in the ground
Decor
In order to decorate a pond in the yard with your own hands, in addition to various plants, beautiful stones and other decorative elements, the use of lighting gives a good effect. The colored glow spreading from under the water will create a wonderful decoration for your pond at night. Additional lighting can also be placed above the water.
You can use various fountains as decor for decorating a pond at your dacha with your own hands, as in the photo in the article. The functioning of the fountains is ensured by the operation of pumps, which can be hidden at the bottom of the pond under the stones. Surface devices are also used. Pumps come in different capacities, which affects the height and intensity of the water jets.
Do-it-yourself concrete foundation installation
Concrete work begins before waterproofing with the casting of a base plate made of M150 concrete, which is designed to protect the reservoir bowl from ground movements. On top of this slab, after it dries, waterproofing is laid.
After the base for the bowl has been dug, a drainage system has been installed, a sand and gravel cushion 20-30 cm thick has been poured, a concrete preparation 10 cm thick has been poured, and the walls of the pool are reinforced. For this you will need reinforcement A 12 mm. The rods are connected with knitting wire in the form of a mesh with cells of 20 x 20 cm.
Installing mortgages is an important stage of work. Before the start of formwork work, the following components are installed: bottom drain, nozzles, lights, skimmers. Electrical wiring is also being installed. The formwork is installed using moisture-resistant plywood 15 mm thick and wooden support beams. High-quality formwork will help save material and other leveling agents.
Concreting is carried out with high-grade heavy concrete with plasticizers. The walls vibrate to prevent voids from forming. It is more convenient to fill the bowl in 2 steps - first the bottom, then the walls. To prevent water from penetrating through the cold seam of a leaking joint, a self-expanding bentonite cord is placed into the joint when pouring, which increases 6 times when exposed to water.
The pool bowl is leveled with a layer of plaster. Using plaster, you can achieve a perfectly smooth pool bowl. The plastered surface of the bowl has no cracks, voids, depressions or other irregularities.
Pond care
A decorative pond at the dacha requires some care. Planted plants must be protected from the cold or moved to a warm room. During a long absence, the surface of an artificial reservoir at the dacha should be covered with a special mesh to protect it from debris. Leaves and other debris that have fallen into the country pond are caught with a net, and if a large amount of sludge forms, it is necessary to clean the reservoir. The water must be periodically updated using a garden hose or a regular bucket (if specialized equipment is not available).
Waterfall
Connoisseurs of beauty with the appropriate financial means can afford to build Niagara Falls in miniature.
The noise of rushing water has a beneficial effect on the human psyche. Another feature is that you don’t even have to look at the waterfall, but just listen to it. Some people install waterfalls for this very purpose - wanting to drown out other sounds.
The most suitable surface for a waterfall is a place with a slope. Well, the ideal option is if there is a flower garden nearby or a beautiful shrub grows.
Designers advise installing benches or a gazebo near such a body of water so that you can admire the flowing water and delight your ears with its noise.
Important! There should be no unnecessary objects near the waterfall. The approach to the reservoir must be free!
Photo gallery
In our photo gallery you will see more than 33 examples of beautiful ponds in the country.
