Many summer residents dream of making their garden exotic. What is required for this? A good option will organize a stream on the site with his own hands.

Creating a stream with your own hands is not at all difficult; it is made in the same way as a pond using a special form and film.

It is very important to accurately mark the passage of water. This is the most First stage construction. You can make a stream in your dacha meandering, passing through various obstacles, in the form decorative stones, shrubs, etc. Natural appearance and smooth lines are the most important attributes of a stream.

You don’t have to adhere to such rules and replace the tortuosity with clear, even lines. Paved walkways and patios blend beautifully with linear streams. But you need to take into account that this style makes the stream look like a kind of ditch, lined with lush or compact bushes that grow freely.

It is also very important to determine in advance the presence of receiving ponds or waterfalls in the stream. The pond into which the stream flows is usually characterized by smooth rounded shapes shores and planted plants hanging over the water. Very often, streams are arranged in places where there are differences in altitude next to the stone staircase that connects the garden tiers.

Along its bends, the stream may include islands open to a sandy bottom, and shallows if it flows through flat terrain or on a gentle slope. A stream in your dacha will seem mountainous if you make it steep banks or breaks. The free fall of water is a very beautiful sight.

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Plant selection

After the stream is ready, proceed to decorative design nearby space. Plants that can tolerate high humidity will help you achieve harmony with general style and will perfectly complement the lawn carpet, stone slides, and mixborders with which the site is decorated.

Moisture-loving shrubs, for example white dogwood, viburnum, hydrangea, and perennial plants such as male shield, fern, ostrich feather, astilbe, - ideal plants for decorating the sources of streams. The choice depends only on the location of the stream. Perennial plants are best planted on level areas.

Note. If it is not planned, then the mouth of the stream should be deepened. To circulate water flows, it is better to use a deep container or a suitable shape. In fact, building a small film pond with your own hands is very simple and easy.

Plants are also planted for camouflage. building materials, with the help of which the channel is made (film or plastic trays). Plants that grow well both on land and in water at shallow depths (cuckoo flax, crowberry, mats of low-growing moss, Naumburgia racemosa or marigold) are suitable for this.

Naturalness is achieved by planting perennial plants in groups. Such plants include: Siberian iris, most varieties of astilbe, magnificent geranium, mantle, hostas and ferns. Steep rocky banks will look great if they are decorated with coin loosestrife, periwinkle, scatterings of golden swamp violets, spleenwort or gooseberry for spring flowering.

It is very important to choose the right pump, calculate the diameter of the pipes, and make high-quality waterproofing.

But this is only the visible part. It is also very important to take care of cleaning the pump in advance. winter period into the room, cleaning filters and, of course, about water purification.

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Along a hand-made stream

High banks with drained soil make it possible to plant low-growing horizontal cotoneaster and creeping spirea, which belongs to the coniferous tree family.

If the stream, according to the design, winds between tall trees that create shade, then it can be decorated with crowberry, Rogersia and aruncus. They should be planted in such a way as not to disturb the line of water movement, otherwise the stream on the site will be divided into segments, which will lead to a deterioration in its appearance.

The mouth of a hand-made stream can be planted with ponytail, and water buttercup is suitable for places with a calm, slow flow. In such places it will slowly circle across the water surface. If a stream runs through the lawn, transitional creeping low-growing plants, such as coin loosestrife or creeping tenacious, are needed.

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DIY stream construction

Diagram of the flower garden around the stream: 1 – bamboo-leaf, 2 – hybrids of bearded iris, 3 – lobelia, 4 – creeping tenacious, 5 – Poskharsky’s bellflower, 6 – aubrieta hybrids, 7 – large-leaved brunera, 8 – stylifolia bryozoan, 9 – creeping tenacious red-leaved, 10 – arundo.

For the work you will need a little:

• submersible pump;
• polyethylene film or concrete;
• water supply pipe;
• decorative stones;
• plants;
• shovel;
• hammer;
• solution container.

Practical part.

1. Choosing a location. The first step to creating a stream is to choose a suitable location. In reality, you won’t have much choice, because the stream of your summer cottage should be located near a pond or other garden reservoir from which water will be supplied by a pump. An outside observer will see the final composition in the following form: from a beautiful spring that comes out of the ground, water ends up in the bed of a stream along which it moves, flowing into a pond. In fact, there is simply no spring, and the water is supplied from a pond! Ideal place for the mouth of a stream at summer cottage is a slope with a slope of 30-45°. Water through it will be able to flow down into the pond by gravity. Of course, this is not necessary, since the flow will be provided by the pump in any case, but its speed on flat horizontal sections will be low, unlike on a slope.
2. Digging a ditch to the required depth. Typically, the depth of a stream made with your own hands ranges from 0.25-0.50 m, and the width reaches 1-1.5 m. Having decided on the appearance of the future stream, they begin to create a ditch. Its dimensions depend on the materials used to make the bottom and walls of the structure. This will be described in more detail below.
3. Creating a stream bed. After the ditch is ready, they proceed to the most important thing - creating the original channel. In order to do this, you first need to get rid of all the stones, roots and other debris, and then the surface is well compacted. All subsequent work depends on the material from which the channel will be made. For these purposes, waterproofing film or concrete may be suitable.
4. If selected simplest option- film, then first you need to place a sand cushion 50 mm thick in the groove, and lay a non-woven material on top of it, for example, butyl rubber. After this, all that remains is to carefully lay the film on the resulting surface.
5. If preference is given to concrete, then the work process becomes a little more complicated. To begin with, you need to make a cushion of gravel and sand 250-300 mm thick in the groove with your own hands, cover it with PVC film and lay a 150 mm thick layer of concrete on the surface. It follows from this that the choice concrete covering requires deepening the groove by 0.4-0.45 m from the design value in the clear. Accordingly, the width also increases.
6. Decorating the appearance of the stream with your own hands. Many may think that the production of the stream is finished, but it appearance unnatural. It is necessary to hide all artificial elements so that they are not visible even under a close gaze. First you need to pay attention to the bottom. A real stream never has a flat, smooth surface. In places of the riverbed with a weak current, flat stones are placed on the bottom. large sizes, for example, pebbles. Where the flow is faster, it is better to decorate the stream with large, rough stones. Flat stones laid at the bottom of the stream will help create the effect of a waterfall. The banks of the new stream also need to be decorated. This can be done with boulders and small stones that have an irregular shape. Stones are selected in different sizes and shapes and laid in groups or separately.
7. System input and pump connection. The stream will flow into the reservoir, and it is in this place that a submersible pump should be located, which will help the water flow circulate in a given direction. The device must have the power to provide the required traffic intensity. Considering the fact that water flows from a spring at the source of the stream, polypropylene hoses, which are easy to install and relatively frost-resistant, need to be connected to the pump. The source location also needs to be decorated, otherwise the supply hose will be visible. This can be done by hiding the hose behind a large boulder or by constructing a kind of grotto from several medium-sized stones.

When decorating local area A number of difficulties arise even at the design stage. Many forms of modern landscape design, although they are impressive in their effectiveness, their artificial origin is clearly visible. Owners of cottages and summer cottages strive to reproduce an attractive, but as natural as possible picture of nature. The easiest way to emphasize the naturalness of the landscape is to create a stream.

The first task you have to deal with is choosing the location of the stream and its shape. When creating a project, be sure to consider the following criteria:

To make a decision faster, consider the following recommendations:

Stream dimensions

Determine the length, width and depth of the stream yourself, taking into account your personal vision of the artistic painting of the landscape.

But take into account the standard indicators used when creating an artificial stream in the country:

What is special about the structure of the stream?

Unlike other types artificial reservoirs, when arranging an artificial stream on a site, it is necessary to purchase and install a pump. With its help, constant circulation of water will occur.

Which pump to choose?

For this form of landscape design, use a submersible pump, as such equipment will provide the necessary results at low cost.

Among the advantages of such an installation, we highlight the following points:

Select the appropriate type of pumping system based on the characteristics of the artificial stream being created:

What material should I choose to cover the bottom?

The following types of materials are most often used to form a stream bed:

How to correctly calculate the required volume of water?

To correctly determine the required volume for the stable functioning of an artificial stream, make a simple calculation by multiplying all its parameters.

Let's give clear example for the following sizes:

Calculation formula

How to properly design an artificial stream?

Depending on the type of material chosen for lining the riverbed, the construction technology will vary slightly. But general rules remain unchanged. Carefully read the sequence of work to complete the entire volume as correctly as possible.

What materials should be prepared for the construction of an artificial stream?

Artificial stream construction technology

When designing an artificial stream, adhere to the following recommendations:

What plants should I use to decorate the coastal zone?

To decorate the riparian zone of the stream, plant plants that prefer high humidity conditions.

Among all the available types, the following are especially popular among landscape designers:

When choosing stones, be guided by the style of the designed source. To arrange a mountain rapid stream, give preference to medium-sized granite fragments or a scattering of pebbles. Decorate the meadow stream with large blocks, boulders or small particles of sandstone.

Video

Watch the video, which clearly shows the entire process of creating an artificial stream to more clearly imagine the scope of work.

Conclusion

The entire process of creating an artificial stream on the site will not take much time and effort. At the same time, if the work is done correctly, it will certainly add a special flavor to the entire landscape and will begin to attract attention with its effectiveness. Therefore, carefully consider all the rules and recommendations, give preference only quality materials to get the result you expect.

Nothing can so captivate the eye, make you think and delve deeper into your thoughts, as the sight of moving water, living its own life. There is already a calm pond on your site and it’s nice to relax near it, but sometimes you really want to fill it with movement... Create some semblance of a fast river, albeit in miniature. Well, nothing is impossible! If you already have a pond, then it's time to add a decorative stream to it. However, if you do everything correctly, then none of the neighbors will even guess that it is artificial. The water in it will be real, and the movement will be created by a pump, skillfully disguised in a homemade stone grotto.

Decorative stream - a river in miniature

The first step in creating a stream is choosing a suitable location. In principle, there will be no choice as such, since the stream should only be located next to a pond or other garden reservoir from which the pump will “draw” water. For an outside observer, the final composition will look like this: from an inconspicuous spring gushing out of the ground, water enters the bed of a stream along which it moves and flows into the pond. In fact, we understand that there is no spring - the water is taken from the pond!

Scheme of a decorative stream (click to enlarge)

Ideally, the mouth of the stream should be on a slope of the site (slope 30°-45°) so that the water can flow down into the pond by gravity. This is not necessary, since the water flow will still be provided by the pump, but its speed on horizontal flat areas will be less than on a slope.

Step 2. Digging a ditch of the required depth

As a rule, the depth of a homemade stream varies between 25-50 cm, and the width can reach 1-1.5 m. Having determined exactly how you want your stream to look, you can start digging a ditch.

Its dimensions will largely depend on the material from which the bottom and walls of the water structure will be made. We'll talk about this below.

Step 3. Create a stream bed

Now we will proceed to the most important thing - creating a full-fledged riverbed. To do this, you must first remove all stones, roots and other debris from the dug ditch, and then compact the surface. Subsequent work will depend on the material of the channel. In this capacity you can use waterproofing film or concrete.

If you have chosen the simplest option - film, then first lay sand cushion 5 cm thick, and spread on top of it non-woven material(butyl rubber, for example). Now all that remains is to carefully spread the film over the resulting surface.

If you choose concrete, the principle of operation will become somewhat more complicated. First, it is necessary to lay on the bottom of the groove gravel-sand cushion 25-30cm thick, cover it plastic film and fill the surface with a 15cm layer of concrete. Thus, the groove depth when choosing concrete surface initially should be 40-45 cm greater than the desired depth of the stream. Accordingly, the width should be larger.

Step 4. Decorating the stream with stones

We can say that the stream is ready, but its appearance is still far from natural. It is necessary to decorate it so that its artificial essence is not visible even close up. First, pay attention to the bottom of the structure - it will never be perfect in a real stream flat surface. In the place of the riverbed where a weak current is expected, small flat stones, preferably pebbles, should be placed on the bottom. Where the speed will be intense, it is better to give preference to large rough stones.

For a waterfall effect, large flat stones can be placed at the bottom of the stream.

The banks of an artificial stream also need decoration - place boulders and small stones there irregular shape. Select stones of different sizes and shapes, placing them individually or in groups.

Pay attention to the landscaping of the coastline. Shrubs and perennials that prefer moist soil can be planted at the source. Viburnum and astilbe, juniper, bergenia, various ferns - all these plants will not only feel good near the water, but will also decorate the picturesque coastal landscape. Along the banks, between the stones, other moisture-loving plants will find refuge: marsh iris, loosestrife, daylily, brunnera, ostrich. Ground cover plants will creep up onto the rocks and make an interesting addition to the overall picture.

Select mosses, sedum, periwinkle or creeping tenacious for these purposes. Having planted all these plants in the coastal zone, it is worth remembering that most of them take about three weeks to take root. During this period, you should not turn on the pump at full power, so that the stream of water does not tear out the plants and carry them into the pond.

Step 5. Enter into the system and connect the pump

The stream bed will flow into the pond and this is where you should lower it submersible pump, which will force the water to circulate along a given route. The power of the device must provide the necessary intensity of its movement.

Hidden in a clay jug... is a hose from a pump

Considering that the water will rise to the sources of the stream, it is necessary to connect polypropylene hoses to the pump, which are easy to install and quite frost-resistant. It is advisable to decorate the outlet of the supply hose at the source. This can be done by hiding the hose behind a large boulder or by building a grotto from several small stones.

A wooden bridge spanning a stream invites you to approach the cozy pergola

And finally, if the stream is wide enough, it would not be a bad idea to throw it across decorative bridge or several large flat boulders. This way, the water will not become an obstacle for those walking through the garden, but, on the contrary, will turn the walk into an interesting adventure.

A beautifully designed plot is the dream of every summer resident. What makes a dacha beautiful?

This is, first of all, work and love for your property, as well as competently designed and created individual elements of landscape design, which are linked together into one whole. A stream in a summer cottage can become one of these elements.

This option will fit perfectly into any design. We will look at the stages of its creation, basic principles and design methods.

As a result, you will understand that creating a stream is not particularly difficult, and the pleasure of contemplating it is worth all the costs.

How to make a stream in the country? Main stages

First, let's decide what type of stream you want to create.. The classic is running water that intricately meanders and crosses the entire site, going underground. However, it is worth considering that the stream can be of natural origin, and it can flow in a straight line. When you create an artificial stream, you yourself set the trajectory of the water flow. In this case, in order for the water to move, you will have to connect a pump. However, it should not be visible.

A simpler option is a dry stream where there is no water. This is a kind of stylized landscape element that just imitates running water. Now let's take a closer look at each option.

If there is a natural stream on the site, then it usually does not present a very attractive sight: overgrown, with a swampy smell due to the low speed of water flow, which can sometimes even stagnate. First you need to examine it, see where the narrowest and widest places are.

Then you need to remove the weeds along the banks. Armed with a shovel, you can give the stream several bends, widen it bottlenecks. By filling and deepening, try to increase its slope to give greater speed to the water. However, be careful with this.

If the banks are very steep, try to make them flat and, if possible, slightly level the area near the stream by 2 meters in both directions. The stream should not resemble a ditch.

It is also necessary to clean the bottom of debris, and then place pebbles and stones on it in random order, different sizes. This will allow the stream to gurgle happily. You also need to put stones on the shore, burying them 1/3-1/2 into the ground.

The next stage is planting the plants. And try to select low-growing species, plant not densely, otherwise the stream will be lost behind lush vegetation.

Now let's look at creating an artificial stream. We take a plan of the site and plot its trajectory. It is very good if the terrain has a slope, because on a flat area you will have to form it by filling, and this extra costs. However, don’t worry, water can run on almost flat terrain with minimum slope, pumped by a pump.

Then we begin to remove the stream into nature. It is necessary to dig a shallow groove (about 20 cm) with gentle banks. With a slope of 3 cm per 1 m, the flow of water will already be visible to the naked eye. It will also not be bad if you make one or more drops that will act as mini-waterfalls.

The bottom is compacted, and a special film is laid on it, which does not allow water to pass through. Make sure that there are no sharp stones, roots or other inclusions at the bottom that could tear the material. It is advisable to pour sand under the film in a layer of 5-6 cm (tamp).

Instead of film, you can make a channel of concrete. While the concrete has not hardened, stones and pebbles are inserted into it. The disadvantage of this design is the need for shelter for the winter. Also, if all the water is not removed and it freezes, the bottom of the stream bed will become covered with cracks through which water will leak out in the summer.

If the slope of the bottom does not allow creating drops, then they can be made using large flat stones, which are laid at a slight slope in the direction opposite to the flow of water.

The stream will flow into a container (for example, an old bathtub) buried in the ground. You can cover it on top with shallow metal mesh, on which pebbles and stones are laid out (mask). A pump is installed in the container, which will supply water through a hose to the source. The hose is buried in the ground.

To create a dry stream, you can use the technology discussed above, only without water. You can read more details here.

Decorating a stream with your own hands

After the stream bed has been completed, you can begin to design it. Mandatory materials are stones and plants. It is not necessary to observe symmetry when decorating the bottom and banks with stones; it is appropriate only when creating a dry stream, and then in some cases.

Among plants, the best will be low-growing species. From blooming in spring– primroses, muscori, daffodils, dwarf tulips and other small bulbs. Various low cereal plants (fescue, maned barley) and ground cover (phlox, woodweed, saxifrage) look beautiful, especially among stones. You can also pay attention to the assortment used to create an alpine slide.

Separately planted specimens of juniper (creeping forms) and mountain pine will also add natural look. You can plant a weeping willow at the source.

Arranging the stream in various small forms has also become popular.. This is, first of all, a bridge, which should not be massive and high, otherwise the stream will be lost against its background. It should look more like a slightly arched or straight crossbar, without railings.

The bridge can be made of wood or stone. There are only decorative structures that cannot support a person, but there are those that can be walked on.

You can also improve the stream with other sculptures and structures(mill, small stylized houses, stone lanterns). The mystery and enigma of the stream at night will be given by lighting, which should not be bright. It is better to disguise it with stones and plants.

With a little work and time, you will get a wonderful structure that will help you relax after a hard day; the melodic murmur will fill you with calmness and give you vitality and energy.