A waterfall in the garden is a very special eye-catcher - especially if it recreates a natural landscape. With a little manual skill you can build a natural-looking waterfall yourself, which there are various methods for.
How to build a waterfall from natural stones in the garden?
To build a waterfall out of natural stones in the garden, you need a slope or artificial elevation, special stream liner, chunks of natural stone and liquid pond liner. Create the stream, wall up the stones and coat them with liquid pond liner for a natural look.
Preparatory work
It is an advantage if the garden is on a slope or at least has a natural elevation - such as a hill. Otherwise, simply create an artificial elevation, for example with the help of a heap of mineral concrete or gravel at the desired height. Compact the material carefully and cover it with potting soil and a few large pieces of stone. On this artificially created slope you create the stream leading to the waterfall, for which you can either use pond liner, pre-formed plastic shells or even concrete or natural stone.
How to build the waterfall from natural stones
If the basis of the waterfall is foil, use a special stream foil if possible. This is coated with fine sand and looks more natural than the commonly used pond liner. Before laying out the film, all stones and roots in the area of the stream and waterfall should be removed; as further protection against damage, lay a root fleece underneath. Cover the edges of the film with suitable pieces of natural stone of different sizes. However, you can also form the stream bed and the waterfall out of concrete and press natural stones into the still soft concrete. However, this variant usually looks very artificial. Another alternative is mortared or dry-stacked natural stone walls, from the upper edge of which the waterfall flows into a pool below. This shape is very suitable for effectively integrating a stream on a paved slope.
Coat natural stones with liquid pond liner
To do this, wall up the stones with natural stone mortar (€19.00 on Amazon) and then coat the surfaces with liquid pond liner, which is available in stores in various colors. Apply this in several coats, adding sand between each coat before the paint is dry. This way the waterfall looks much more natural. However, keep in mind that not all natural stones are suitable for building a waterfall: Some types of stone draw a lot of water, which is why harder rock should generally be used.
Tip
If you shy away from this work, you can use ready-made artificial rocks instead and create a waterfall out of them.
