How to Build Your Home-Made Waterfall So It Looks Natural

As you are out touring a city square or out shopping at large shopping center, it is likely that you discover a waterfall and pond which has been constructed out of concrete - we accept it and often appreciate its beauty. Take that self-same concrete structure into a back garden, and it would look contrived, and out of place no matter how much it was scaled down to suit the space. When discussing how to build a home-made waterfall - one of the questions asked is 'Can I use cement in its construction?'

We do not advise the use of cement in a waterfall in your own backyard. The fact that we accept it a city is due to the placement of the structure. A city is built of the same materials, and so it looks 'right' and in place. A backyard is a different story.

It is entirely possible, in certain areas, to build a complete waterfall structure out of the materials which nature has provided for us. As we landscape our garden, and dig out the pond, we will find rocks and smaller stones which, when incorporated into a waterfall design, will look as though they have been there forever - simply because they have!

When you build a garden pond and waterfall, alongside the questions about where the feature will be positioned in your yard (so you can all see it when you are out there relaxing), what it will look like, how large it will be, and what plant and animal life will be included in the design, a decision must be made about what type of material you are going to use to build it.

Professionals advise the use of small rocks instead of large ones, as larger rocks lend themselves to problems when it comes to water-flow. This is a boon for the person wanting their waterfall to look completely natural - smaller rocks are easier to collect and carry to the boot of your car! The local dump that accepts homeowner earth will be of use to you here, as will be a friendly builder who excavates foundations as he builds new homes. Most times the rocks are buried in the gardens as rubble. The advantage of local rock is it is the same colour as your local soil - and if the rocks are set down without an 'apparent' plan, your home-made waterfall could look as thought it had been there forever!

Choose local plants to go around your pond - plants which will survive the conditions, and which do not look out of place. If you are in a desert - surround the pond with desert plants and windblown rocks - if you are in a forest - select ferns and other plants which like a moist micro-climate. If you are in the UK - take a wander along the local river bank and see how and what grows there, use your own rock, and copy what nature shows you.

Building your own waterfall need not be as expensive as you think if you source your own local rock for the structure and do the work yourself. Alongside the savings that could be made by purchasing a garden pond kit to aid you in your construction, you pay almost nothing for the additional raw materials. Some of them may even come out of the hole you make for the water to lie in. Above all - do it! Get busy, and build your own garden pond.