Garden From Scratch

For this project we built a fountain, planted a garden, and constructed a fence - simply a way to enhance a small backyard, but keep it safe from roaming pets! Make sure to check out our blog for detailed instructions and other great projects!

You'll need:

• Pump
• PVC pipe
• Shower Curtain
• Pond Rocks
• 2×4′s
• Wood Sheet
• Sand
• Shovel
• Cement
• Plants
• Mulch

Dig a hole for your fountain and pond area.

The way most pond pumps work is that the water simply falls into them - they are made to push water through the tube and out the top, not pull water in. Gravity has to be on your side. We dug a hole in the center of our hole to bury the pump. You’ll notice the PVC pipe with holes in it’s siding – this is how we got the water to enter our pump. It is screwed onto the top of the pump and we drilled the holes to allow water to sift into it without taking debris with it. For this phase, we left the PVC in place.

A shower curtain is an incredibly cheap alternative to the expensive pond shapes you can buy at hardware stores. We simply laid it out over the hole and pump. For this step we removed the PVC stem.

Once the shower curtain was laid out, we squeezed the PVC stem back into place with the curtain layer caught between then cut away the blocking barrier. This left a water tight seal around the edges of the pump to keep the pond from leaking into the ground around it.

Once you're done cutting away the curtain barrier, put your PVC pipe back together.

Cut away the excess shower curtain along the edge.

If you're really ambitious you can collect pebbles and river rocks on your own - we however, bought a couple bags of $3 pond pebbles from the local hardware store.

To construct the actual fountin you'll need a supply collection similar to these wood pieces.

Fashion them into a rectangular frame in which to pour your concrete. We used the taller pieces of wood to hold the concrete and the pieces of 2x4 are simply to hold in place the rest of our frame.  

We then created a strange little piece to put at the top side of our fountain. This was designed to leave a lip where water could pool as soon as it bubbled up through the tube and breach the edge evenly along the top of the fountain. The wood slides are easily removed once the concrete is hardened, this is just a good way to shape it for functionality.

Then we attached it to the rest of the frame.

Once all of this is in place, run the tube. This ensures that as the concrete hardens the tube is built in place.

With all these stages completed we were ready to mix and pour the concrete. We used two bags… which got really heavy! If you choose to recreate this, do not lift it on your own.

We positioned left over pond pebbles in the cement so water could trickle down the rockface. You could easily create some sort of elaborate design out of any other weather proof items though.

We allowed it plenty of time to harden. If you try to secure it in place before this process has completed, your corners will snap. We simply popped the frame apart and lifted the slab to it’s rightful position. We poured sand beneath the concrete- 1. it helped level the water feature and 2. it prevents the corners from tearing the shower curtain and creating leaks.

Now, onto the gardening! We selected a few key veggies to plant and laid out their space in our garden.

Once all of the plants had homes, we laid mulch. The mulch holds water in the soil longer and protects against the evaporation process – your wallet will thank you for the help on your water bill. Plus, it looks pretty!

Our almost finished product!

After finishing our garden we wanted to protect it from wandering pests ….. and pets. We built this very simple picket fence. The posts are simply sitting in place, it’s more of a cage than a fence and we just spray painted it white. It’s three sided and can be easily moved in and out of place.