Backyard Duck Ponds present an excellent opportunity to improve your landscaping and create a beautiful water garden. In fact, they’re one of the easiest projects you can do on your garden, and are an absolute family favorite. Building a backyard duck pond is actually a relatively simple process that uses your existing landscaping and drainage to transform it into a fun, decorative water garden. The best part about building a pond is that they’re so easy to build – even kids can do it! Here’s how to make your very own water garden.
First things first: design your garden pond. This is actually pretty easy, as long as you have a good plan in hand. Use landscape magazines for inspiration on designing your garden pond. You should also pay close attention to the size of your backyard pond in relation to the dimensions of your home, your yard’s width and length, and the size of your backyard. (For example, if you have a very small yard, you’ll probably want to go with smaller backyard duck ponds, whereas if you have a very large yard, you’ll want to go with larger garden ponds.) Also, remember that you don’t need to have a pond that’s exactly the same size as your yard.
Next, you’ll want to choose the materials for your garden pond. (And by the way, using wood as your primary material choice is usually the best choice – although concrete and fiberglass are also very popular choices.) You can either choose from pre-made pond kits or you can design and build your pond yourself.
Pre-made pond kits are available at most home improvement stores and gardening supply stores. Generally, these kits come with everything you need to build your pond except for some necessary tools such as a pond pump. If you’re handy with tools, you may be able to save money and buy the tools yourself and save even more. Keep in mind, however, that it’s usually best to hire a professional pond builder for this project. Unless you know of someone who has done this before, it’s best to get it done right the first time.
Another alternative to pre-made garden pond kits are home garden pond kits. Like the pond kit, most of these kits come with the materials needed to build a pond. They also include detailed plans for building your pond and its installation. Most of the time, they also include an instructional DVD. (Many of the garden pond kits also come with matching waterfalls and fountains, but the pond kit may not come with these.)
I’ve found, however, that one of the best types of garden pond kits are those sold and designed by individual do-it-yourselfers. These are often sold in “do-it-yourself” kits. The advantage to these types of kits is two-fold.
First, they are often more affordable. You can purchase all of the materials and do the entire project yourself. Second, because they are all individually packaged, no two kits will be alike. In a word, there is a lot of variation in the quality of materials used in the different kits.
The best way to find a backyard duck pond kit is to shop around. Look for a company with a good reputation and a wide selection of pond kits. Make sure they have all of the features you want in a pond kit, but also check for customer reviews and what other people are saying about the product. Finally, check for local rebates and sales. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little more for a more quality product if it means getting a rebate on the purchase!