Building a Backyard Container Fountain or Pond

In 1992 in my new home, I built a small pond in the back yard. The first step in my opinion is to think about how you are going to bring electricity to the fountain that you are going to build. No matter how big or small you want to have ready access to electricity. Since this is going to be an outdoor fountain, you want to make sure you have a GFI outlet which is properly grounded. If you need to get an electrician then do that in advance. Depending on how big you are going to make your fountain, you should sketch out a small drawing of you plans and any ideas you have for landscaping the fountain or pond.

If you live in a lace like Mississippi or Louisiana where the water table is not far below ground, you might want to put some sand and gravel as a base of your fountain which will create a mini French drain as a base for your pond or fountain. In Mississippi, the water table is so much of a problem that my pond can actually raise out of the ground after a heavy rain.

Once you know the dimensions of your fountain or pond dig a generous hole deep enough to set the fountain or pond properly in its location. In preparing the ground for the landscaping around the pond shallow sand and gravel base is again a good idea. I would next suggest some fencing wire on the ground around the pond especially if you are going to use some decorative rocks as part of your landscaping. You can get rocks of almost any size from some place like Home Depot or Lowe's as well as a large variety of shapes and sizes. Once you have your pond chosen and set into the ground the landscaping is open to you own imagination. These same stores have books and pamphlets which will give you many ideas.

Once you have completed your landscaping, it is time to choose a pump to help the water flow which is my favorite part of the pond in my yard. I have some goldfish and I would recommend you buy the small goldfish for $.15 to $.30 cents a piece and not $150 dollars of fancy fish like I did at first. These goldfish are hardy and live a long time and will grow to a size dependent on how big your pond is. The biggest challenge is keeping the water clean and clear. There are a lot of products on the market that will help. If you don't have fish or aquatic plants then I would just periodically add some chlorine granules sold for swimming pools and that works great. If you do have fish then that won't work and you just have to try some of the products at your local stores.

The pond or fountain is well worth the time and it is something you will enjoy for a long time. My pond id 16 years old and I have had to do some work to keep it clean. I have gone through Hurricane Katrina and my pond even though it was under 10 feet of water it still works and my grandchildren enjoy feeding the gold fish.