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Adding a fountain to your garden can not only be relaxing, as well as an invitation to birds and butterflies to visit you. The sounds of water running and sprinkling can be very relaxing to listen to, and the birds will enjoy an drink and a bath.
Making your own fountain has been made easy in recent years by do it yourself kits found at local hardware stores and gardening centers. But I am adding a little twist to these do it yourself kits, by using something rather unusual. My mother-in-law recently purchased a large group of grinding wheels at a local auction, these are approximately 2 feet in width. And make a very interesting fountain.
The first thing, you will need to make sure that you have access to electric to the site where you are planning on installing your fountain, you will also need to purchase a very small recirculating pump (you only need a gently pressure, not a spray), and you will also need two grinding or millstones, one slightly larger than the other. These can be purchased at salvage yards or landscape companies, or in my case from my mother-in-law.
You will also need a container (gardening centers are now selling little black hard plastic pools that can be sunk into the ground) that is slightly bigger than your largest grindstone. This will let the water run over the stones and back into your liner. The liner must be deep enough for the pump to be submerged.
Choose your site, and dig a hole deep enough to sink the liner making it flush with the ground.
Set your liner in the hole, making sure that it is level. Next fill in the hole around the liner to hold it in place. Make sure to clean your liner after this step to remove any dirt that may have spilled into the area.
Place the pump directly in the center of the liner. Now add some rocks or broken brick around and under the pump, making it level with the top of the liner. Be sure that your pump is secure.
Next lay a board across the top of your liner that will extend slightly onto the dirt surrounding the liner. This will take some pressure off of the liner when laying the stones across. Mark the location of the pump and the holes in the center of the grindstones, and cut out the area on the board. This will allow the water to come up through the boards to the holes in the center of the grinding wheels. You will also need to notch out the board where it crosses the edges of the liner. This way the board will sink into the ground a bit.
Now position your grindstones over the board, the larger stone first then the smaller, making sure that all of your holes line up. Fill the liner with water and hook your pump up to the electric. You will be able to adjust the water flow to make a nice gently flowing fountain. It should spray up just slightly, then flow down over both stones and back into the liner.
Place mulch or plants around the edge of your liner and over the board edges to conceal. Just be sure not to get any dirt in your liner.
Also be sure to keep your liner full of water. The water will evaporate, and if the water level gets too low, you can burn up your pump. Also be sure to take the pump inside when the weather starts to freeze.
While this is just one suggestion on making a garden fountain, use your imagination. Look for unusual items to recycle into a garden fountain. Several interesting rocks can be used in much the same way, just make a stack around your pump, leaving a space for the water to come up through the center. Also you can place water plants in your liner, using just the pump, have a fountain in the center of your liner, surrounded by plants. These liners come in all shapes and sizes depending on what you would like to do with it. Many have shelves built in to set your water plants on, right in their pots. Gardening center employee’s can advise you on care of your liner and water plants.
Have fun with this, and enjoy the soothing sounds of a fountain in your garden.
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