Ahh. My 2011 creation. You see I chose an area in my yard each season to turn into a new garden. Our home was built in the early 1980's and the landscape aged, it did not age well due to neglect. Fortunately we did have a sprinkler system that was functional. In 2009 I installed a drip/mist irrigation system for my beds in the front yard. So far I have most of the front yard completed. I two areas left. One will be a dwarf conifer/cottage garden. The other is a strip alongside the driveway and I haven't decided what to do over there yet. I digress-back to the waterfall rock garden. As stated in an earlier blog this garden started out as a berm area with a dry river bed and a copper basin at the bottom. I found a few flaws with this-people are into stealing copper these days. Don't want that to happen. Then I decided I wanted a real water feature. With a small child I didn't want it in the backyard for safety reasons. Nathan was only one when I put this feature in. It took me literally all summer to fund and complete the project. At times it grew frustrating. I had topsoil delivered and it worked out nicely that he was able to dump the load in the exact spot. 1st problem) too much top soil. I offered some to several of my neighbors. It was pouring over onto the lawn and onto the sidewalk. It sat for a good amount of time-so the settling problem from the first garden was solved. Then I mixed in some compost. I didn't add as much compost as I did the first bed just incase this was a reason for the plants burning up in the scree bed the first time I planted.
To compensate for the lack of compost I use an organic dry granular fertilizer that I just sprinkle over the beds. Once a year.
The stream portion and the shape of the berm were again created in the same manner as the scree bed-letting the area determine its shape and form. I do have some minor erosion issues when I hand water or we get a heavy downpour of rain. With the mist drip system I extended to this bed I don't have the erosion issue because it is such a fine spray.
My husband helped install the rocks as some of them were quite heavy. The outer rocks wer eeasy to install. The rocks inside of the waterfall were more difficult. I couldn't get them to line up correctly for the water flow when I tested it with the garden hose. I ended up moving rocks around until I got the right flow. My dad supplied me with enough left over pond liner for my waterfall. I purchased a pre-formed pond liner that is actually just a wood barrel insert and it worked out well. A pump and later a filter-so my water would be sparkley clear was added. Here are some pictures. I will share more in a future post. It is getting late and my 2 year old is wired!
