Friday, June 25, 2010

It's Getting Hot Out There

I've heard that the sound of moving water actually makes you feel cooler on a hot day.  I don't know if that's really true, but who doesn't love the sound of water falling?

This house came with the pond in the front yard. Just the pond, no fountain. I have to admit I was very intimidated about maintaining a pond at first. I had no idea how to take care of it and the whole filter and pump thing really was daunting to me.


Front pond


Now, three years later I have not just one but two ponds and I'll be in charge of the elementary school pond and courtyard starting in the fall for at least the next six years. (I was nominated by my neighbor.)

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine was having a party/fundraiser in her backyard.  I don't know why, but I felt compelled to create some atmosphere for her party by installing a little fountain in the flower bed by her patio.






You don't have to have a pond to have the sound of splashing water. You can create a fountain just about anywhere (you just need a power source). It's a high impact project that doesn't have to cost a lot and can bring so much pleasure to you and the birds-- I encourage you to give it try!

Clearly I'm partial to the urn fountain, but you can create one with any vessel you have that has a hole in the bottom. I've even seen a stack of rocks with holes drilled through them. (That's a little too involved for me, but it looked cool.) 


If you want to create a little outdoor atmosphere and possibly cool down while you enjoy it,  here's what you'll need. 

- Outdoor pond pump 
Just determine how high your vessel will be and get one that will pump water that high. This one from Home Depot cost $21 and will pump up to 4ft high. It's the one I used for my friends fountain. 

- A watertight basin. I used this plastic planter that came with a plug.
- Tubing

  1. Just put your water-tight base where you want it to be. You can even bury the basin put chicken wire over it and then cover them with river rocks. 
  2. Place the pump in it.
  3. Attached the tubing to pump.
  4. Feed the tubing up through your vessel.
  5. Fill with water.
  6. Plug it in and sit back and enjoy the sound of  water flowing. 




Note: It does start to get a little more complicated if you're going to add fish because then you have to have a filter too. 


4 comments:

Kim@Chattafabulous said...

Julie, I have always wanted to try this! Thanks for the tutorial - we need some relief from this heat down here , agree?

kayce hughes said...

What a great idea!

Unknown said...

Its great blog! Very nice pictures of fountain, pond and its pump. I have also visited many older topics and I found it very interesting. Really nice blog!!

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