All About Building Waterfalls, Ponds, and Streams (Ortho's All About Gardening)

Includes complete, easy-to-follow instructions on designing, establishing, and caring for a variety of eye-pleasing water projects.

More than 220 vivid photographs and illustrations, plus detailed instructions, make this guide a must-have for garden enthusiasts looking to plan and build a water feature.

Expert advice on selecting the right fish and plants for embellishing any backyard aquatic paradise.

Solution-based format inspires homeowners to confidently create water havens in their own yards.

This all-new second edition provides the very best instructions for building ponds, waterfalls, and streams.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Good, Informative Book, 2008-08-20
This is a good, informative book if you are researching the idea of having a water feature in your yard. I'm a beginner just thinking about building a stream and pond. This book explains everything involved from the materials needed to layout and construction. I thought it was very good.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Ideas for designing first pond, 2008-07-25
I enjoyed this book; it fit my skill level which I would describe as intermediate. I have not had a pond, but I have kept a 110 gallon indoor aquarium for about twenty years. The information is laid out in an organized fashion with both color photos and b/w sketches. Describes pond design, layout, construction (with a few safety tips), plants, fish (but not detailed information for fish keeping), filters, maintenance and has many color photos.


7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Best in Class, Inspiring, But Start Small, 2007-10-27
I bought this at Home Depot, which also offers a "materials" service from the same help desk in each store that will help design a deck and print out all the needed materials.

This offering appears to be "best in class." I found the following extremely helpful:

1) Up front discussion of the hardest part, creating a balanced ecosystem with balanced chemistry. If you do nothing else, let county water sit in a tub overnight to dissipate the cholorine, before putting it into a live environment.
2) Complete coverage (chapter 3) on materials and equipment. This is a lot easier than most might think, but it *does* require hard work if you get much above a pre-fabricated form. Rocks are *heavy* and you need a LOT of them--three times as many as you might think.
3) Superb photographs and drawings, checklists, and at the end, a list of water resources.

I am struck by how many people seem to be turning not only to waterfalls, but to full-up water gardens. While perhaps difficult to support in drought conditions, my wife and I have had a small pond for years and now want to move up to a waterfall and 4 times larger pond, and this is the book that has made that possible.

If you are discouraged or do not feel up to the challenge, I do recommend a very simple water feature, just a wash-tup and one of those spouting lion heads, or the bamboo trio. For under $100, you can get a water feature that is ready to go and plugs in, and for under $75 you can get a world class wind-chime. Add an outdoor clay fire pot with chimney, and you have the three key ingredients: water, wind, and fire.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Needs more specifics, 2007-07-12
I liked the idea pictures in this book, but ultimately the "how-to's" left me wanting for more. I didn't feel it went into enough detail of things such as, how to make the rocks look natural and how to place them on the rubber liner so they don't wash away immediately. A good idea book, though.


2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Major waterfalls, 2007-06-26
This was a good book if you are going big time waterfalls. I was looking for something a little bit simpler.

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