A Low Maintenance Water Garden Approach

A water garden is a growing popular way of relaxing right in your own backyard - until it's time to maintain it.

Everyone likes beautiful koi swimming around, until they are facing algae problems from the  reflecting ponds they require.

So what's the solution?  How do you get the best of both world's?

A relaxing stress free environment without timely and costly maintenance?

Consider a pondless waterfall.  Designed around your budget and space a pondless waterfall gives the illusion of a waterfall, the sound of moving water over stones, an underground or covered basin to retain all the  water and a quiet recirculating water pump.

With this design you do not have a reflecting pool.  Some of the advantages of that include no  sunlight producing algae , no mosquitoes laying larvae in standing water  and less maintenance time  dealing with algae issues.

Another important factor is safety. With pets or small children wandering into your backyard there no real depth of water that could result in accidental drowning that is so tragic.

The downside of this for fish lovers is no fish. They need an established body of water to survive and thrive.  With the faster circulation of water fish are not recommended in this design.

Consider with the right aquatic plants at the stone's edge  you can attract butterflies and hummingbirds instead.

So how do you save money with a pond less waterfall?

The ability to turn off the waterfall when you are not at home or even in your backyard is one of its most attractive benefits.

Even for longer periods like a vacation there is no harming the  natural biological balance.  This gives you a peace of mind for extended absences.

A lot of pond keepers, or should I say, waterfall watchers, use a timer. Just like you do for your landscape lights putting it on a time for say, after dinner to dusk hours when you are most likely to be there is a smart way to make it even easier to enjoy and maintain.

Just be sure you have a way to quickly check your water basin levels so your pump doesn't run dry.  The other tip is to put a 1/4 cup of chlorine or a hard tablet typically used for pools every week or two.

 This keeps any risk of water issues developing.

For the best of both worlds - a relaxing sound of water garden without the hassle and expense of reflecting pond design consider a pond less waterfall approach.