Make This EASY, FAST, DIY Water Feature for Local Wildlife!
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2023
- I have been working with Garden for Wildlife to transform my standard American landscape into a certified wildlife habitat, but one of the requirements has been eluding me... until I figured out a way to make this easy and fast water feature that will bring much needed water for my local wildlife!
Anyone can make this water feature, and we'll show you how easy and inexpensive it can be!
If you would like to learn more about Garden for Wildlife and the amazing native plant collections they have available, please visit www.gardenforwildlife.com/yar...
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The National Wildlife Federation has been leading conservation efforts in the United States since 1936! You can support their efforts at www.nwf.org/
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#permaculture #permaculturedesign #sustainablelandscaping #sustainability #gardenforwildlife #nationalwildlifefederation
I'm Daryl. I really hate mowing the lawn.
That’s how all of this began: a search for landscaping alternatives that don't require sacrificing every Saturday morning to the mower.
As a certified permaculture designer, I help transform boring, basic lawns into beautiful yards that take care of us the way we take care of them.
If you are interested in learning more about my process, please visit me at yardfarmer.co 
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I built something similar for my yard. I would suggest putting more rocks or aquarium gravel in mesh bags to put in the base. It adds a lot of surface area for beneficial bacteria, which keep the water fresh and clean for the critters.
Several years ago, I read about bees needing to drink. I had no clue. So I go into the basement and looked through our abandoned craft supplies, find some shiny blue marbly things from Michael's and took them outside to the birdbath. I go back into the house to get more water, come back, and there were the bees! That all took place in under ten minutes! They seemed to have been waiting. This was in southeastern PA during 92 degree weather. Its is incredibly satisfying to watch bees drinking.
I’m sure I sound ridiculous but it never occurred to me that bees drank water until I watched them landing on the side of my pool to drink. It helped me to feel less intimidated by them.
They're pretty mild little creatures, they just want to do their thing! I'm glad you found some peace with them!
Guess what? Ducks either don't, or can't, swallow. To drink water, for instance, they have to tip their heads up and back. Cool, huh? 3rd grade. I'll never forget where + when I learned that lol.🪻📚🌼
Wasp are the same way, they just want to survive!
The humidity - think about that!
@@yardfarmerco Honey bees are perfect backyard visitors. They don't sting unless they feel their nest is threatened, so they usually leave people alone and tend to their hive business. I used to keep bees. Mason bees are also very polite. On the other hand, wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets are horrible and will sting just for the fun of it.
I had my very small townhouse front yard certified! My source of water uses a modestly-priced ($15) solar fountain and a small (maybe 3 feet diameter) rigid "pond" liner ($18) that I sank in the ground. I covered the edges of the rigid liner with pavers and rocks, stacked bricks and rocks inside the liner, topped them with a few pieces of flagstone, and ran tubing from the solar fountain through the stacked flagstone to create a small waterfall. Just at the surface of the water, I positioned a plant saucer (similar to your middle tier) that I filled up with gravel and a couple of flat rocks for the bees and butterflies to land on and drink from. Small birds drink from it, too! The whole set up cost less than $50 (including the price of 3 gorgeous flagstone pieces that I wanted to showcase) and has been going strong for 5 years.
It sounds beautiful! This is one of those posts which makes me wish we could post pictures in the comments!
@thatswhatisaid8908 Thank you. It's a project that I feel very satisfied with, and your encouragement means a lot.
I would’ve loved to have seen you put this together
@@anachen5128 Awww, that's so nice for you to say . I don't have videos to post anywhere, but if it helps, the rigid liner is from Lowe's and the solar water fountain from either eBay or Amazon.
Good for you! I’m glad your townhouse association let you do it. ❤
Oh, it's lovely all right. We have a pond like that. Even put in a little uv unit to kill algae and keep the water healthy. Good variety of aquatic plants, goldfish, small waterfall.
The first year, a great blue heron ate all the fish. Back to the store for goldfish. Bought the fake heron, the flashing reflective disks, the motion sensitive water sprayer ...fed a lot of fish to a lot of herons with those heron-proofing purchases. And be aware, I live on a quarter acre in a heavily populated suburb. This isn't rural.
Bought a big netting thing and covered the pond. That pond environment is exceptionally healthy, the fish are thriving and I love it. Gotta clean the filter multiple times a week. Pump breaks down periodically. Isn't maintenance free at all. But super healthy. The birds can't water in the pond, but they bathe and drink on the waterfall and the water we put out for them.
I advise against putting in a pond till you know more about the pitfalls. Like the frogs. I like the sound, but my yard is frog central so I hear them a lot in the summer. Oh, and when you attract birds to your yard, they crap on everything, especially grackles.
I hate grackles.
But I see a lot of dragonflies and hummingbirds come by, many other types of birds drop in, it's nice to relax to the sound of the water.
Thanks for showing us how to do it on a budget. We are all pinching pennies these days. Now we have more to share with our little garden critters! ❤
I just purchased a pot and a couple of saucers to make my own birdbath/pollinator fountain!!!! I'm working on native plants. I love your design. Adding the aquarium gravel under the marbles was perfect. I'm so glad I found your channel... it's been a life long dream of mine to have my yard as a certified wildlife habitat!! PS--GO FOR THE POND!!!!! 😉😁🤣
Thanks for finding us! Have all the fun in the world building your fountain!
Depending on origin of glazed pots. The Chinese are notorious for using lead and other heavy metals.
I just found this video. TY!! I can’t wait to make my own.
The ONLY change up I will do is drill a hole on the bottom pot towards the upper area adding a couple holes and allowing drainage for when it rains. Doing it this way, I won’t overload my pump from too much water from rain, allowing any water to remain the level I originally want it to be. Then no adjustments or removal of additional water is required.
Daryl: I was born in Ogden at McKay Dee Hospital in 1952. We moved to Calif in 1959. Stayed, grew up, married, birthed oldest son, same hospital. Back w him to Calif., stayed and did Life + kids/marriage/career.
Moved w my 15 yo, youngest son, to St George UT, in 1998. Still here, all 3 boys, wives, 3 of 5 grandkids, my 93 yo Mom + & my 60 yo little sister & hubby, all here now.
Glad to find your channel. FABULOUS project.
Thank you for watching!
Are you planning to put anything in the larger bottom pot? It's a drowning hazard for little curious thirsty critters as there is no way out. Covering it with a larger platter will prevent this, or use larger rocks that will sit further up at the mouth of the pot to create those anchors for the critters to sit on, or bathing for the birds. Ensuring of course, that you leave sufficient gaps for the circulation of the water in the reservoir but no crevices that the critters can scurry through.
We did add more rocks to the bottom pot, we just didn't have enough when we recorded this video!
@@yardfarmerco I'm glad to hear that as it is quite distressing finding lifeless critters in the water. Thank you!
Very true! Birds or small critters won't know the depth and can drown. Before I realized this,I had a little sparrow drown in a deep fountain.😢😢
@@melindapierce8234 That is so sad. I'm sorry to hear that. 💔
Great point! Please consider. I had a bucket of city water that I was letting sit to remove dangerous whatevers. Came in a day later and a poor little mouse was dead, floating on his back. I cannot imagine how many times he swam in circles trying to escape from that death trap. I felt like crap for days.
Because you aren’t seeing the one upside down (just for height) I’d for sure use something free at home as you’ll never see it.
I plan to build a pond one day. But until my kiddo can swim and I feel comfortable letting her play near the pond, this will make an excellent water source! Thank you!
SO happy you enjoyed it! Have fun!
+1 vote for adding a pond to your yard.
The urge is real!
🎉yes! That way I can learn to add one to mine 😂too
This is an awesome design - thankyou so much! I’ve been trying to work out how to do something very similar but with all the same criteria for wildlife! I live in the north of England in the UK, so we have cool winters, increasingly wetter and less snowy, with variable Spring/Summers which have occasional crazy moments (thx to climate change) which have been up to 31 degrees C, only a handful of times & still get occasional drops to about -10 degrees C with/out snow. So as long as I use frostproof pots (we can buy the exact same ones here) …or… I love zinc metal containers, some ex-agricultural, like 4’ x 18” drinking troughs from farmers’ fields (paid for obvs!) or fire buckets etc, these are mostly rustproof and look great. I’d need to include a doggo drinking fountain element to stop my two English Cocker Spaniels hoovering up bugs or wildlife with their drink! 🤦🏻♀️ And mine is a tiny garden but it has a beautiful part which has an original dry stone wall from a field boundary - perfect to run a pump to so that it comes through a gap in the stones and allows the water to flow in whatever design is required 😃🐶🐝🪲🐞👍🏻
So I’m sitting up in bed, two sleeping doggos next to me, with notebook and pencil, starting to sketch ideas using your terrific solution as a guide.
Now, here’s the thing: … I’m a newish single woman, who happens to have MS, ME, Fibro, etc! … who was married for 30 years (I always did design/measure, he did heavy stuff!), so I’m trying to learn which things I can do by myself … which I’d much prefer obvs! (😁), as I have some personal (very annoying!!!) limitations to my capabilities … and which I have to sub out to *a man* (😡) … preferably without any *mansplaining* (🤬🤬🤬😂)
I’m staying determined and will hopefully achieve my design without any major issues … I also have ADHD, so it would be great to achieve this in the next 12-24 months, rather than the usual purchasing without completion 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🥹😖😬
I shall try to report back 😬😳😁 xxx
Your fountain looks amazing! Thanks for sharing this! 💯 ❣️
Marvellous for wild life and especially critically endangered wildlife. All the creatures need water and food. Bush corridors. Thank you!
Very nice. Perfect for the bee's. Hadn't thought about bees, but now I know what's getting set up very near my Russian Sage bed. They eat heavily in that flower. Smart!
Beautiful! Love it!!
As usual, great video. We’ve been using metal trash can lids found in the basement. I love watching the birds shake the water off acting as an automatic sprinkler for the plants near by.
Thank you! What a fantastic idea and a great way to repurpose something! I love it!
What a great idea! I think I will have to go trash picking! lol
love love love love this fountain! I'm going to save this video and use it to make one this summer! Thank you so much!
I love this, that is the perfect bubble flow and I am saving this one to do one too! Thank you!
I love this is turned out beautiful! I want a pond so bad too but I think this will be a lovely substitute. Love the water trickling sound.
Very nice! Celebration deserved!
Beautiful! Very nice. Thanks!
This is my new favorite series. Please update soon!
Great project. Thank you!!
I love it!! Thanks for your instructions and inspiration. I love your genuine enthusiasm. 🙂
❤❤❤ I’m glad I found you channel, I mean.😊
I just found your channel and subscribed, this wildlife fountain looks great and is such a cool project! I have one worry though, the main pot/reservoir could become a deadly trap for any wildlife if they get into it there would be no means of climbing out from the water. Hopefully birds won’t try to bathe inside the big pot and I guess most insects would go only to the trays? Otherwise it depends on what kind of small mammals or amfibians you have and wether they would be able to climb up to that ledge in the first place.
How stinking cool is that!! Well done and such a great and pretty idea! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Thanks so much! 😊
The WHOLE pond!! Loved your video and I learned while laughing! 👏
..and brilliant design on the watering feature! I definitely am putting one together!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful, so inspirational ❤
Thank you so much!
I am definitelt making One!!!
It's a beautiful, adorable, effective water source; well done!!
Seed milkweed; it'll take a couple-3 yrs to become what they need to be, for the butterflies. 💛💜❤️💚🌷
First time viewer and I’m blown away! Awesome job with great ideas. Thanks!
Thank you so much!
I made a fountain out of an old birdbath a neighbor threw away. Sunk a round basin in the garden and put the entire birdbath base inside the basin. Put a piece of old pantyhose around the fountain so it wouldn’t get colony debris falling in. Added river rocks to the birdbath and ran the pump tubing up the middle of the birdbath pedestal. One the water was running I was able to grow moss I found in my back yard in the birdbath as well. We even had goldfish in the bottom basin (until raccoons caught them). It was wonderful listening to the water trickling, seeing birds and pollinators landing and drinking and one of my dogs decided it was her personal drinking fountain as well. Such a fun project!
No idea why youtube is pushing this video 9 months later but I’m so glad! I live in south Salt Lake County and I’m taking NOTES on this video. Love how approachable you made this project 💚
Thank you so much, we're so glad you found it! We also have NO IDEA why this video took off over the last few weeks, but we're happy to see it! Happy gardening to you!
This is so cool. I wish I could do this in so cal.
Great Idea, left you an Abo.
Greetings from Germany 🙋♀️🌸
outstanding
Thank you!
really nice !! personally i would have left the bottom plate for the bees and such- maybe a wider plate come to think for that purpose, and left the top plate for birds: i have a soup plate on my balcony and besides drinking, they love to take baths !!!
Las year there were two crows that were always trying to drink water from the pool but the could never drink, , because the water is to low for them to reach it.. And I felt so bad fir them and was thinking that it would be nice if I can find something like that for them... hopink that they'll come back this year😅
cool
Great ideas. However, I would silicone all of the inside pieces together to prevent any mishaps. They cam be lifted out as one to service the pump.
i love this project! how has it fared in the heat---i sometimes have issues with algae in fountains...?
Lovely design. How often would you need to clean the fountain---marbles and rocks? And what did you do about winterizing it? Thank you.
Good day ! I am glad I have found your video I made one a couple of years with a nice pot but I may need ideas for polinisaters it’s good for birds but I may have to add a top can I send a picture to have ideas
CONGRATS! Do we need to make sure plastics, silicones, rubbers, paints, water etc are wildlife safe? My original 1300 gallon dug-by-hand koi pond had a huge liner that was dangerous chemical-free? Awesome site! Can you please clone your husband for me LMAO
that's an idea...certification. we have a 5-gallon bucket under a solar water heater overflow pipe, surrounded by tall grass so the water stays cool. every year dozens of bees and things stop by for a drink. and yes, we have a way for any larger critters to get out of the bucket if they happened to fall in.
Sounds amazing!
Loved your video, Ms. Yardfarmer! You're a natural in front of the camera. You remind me of a Travel RUclipsr (can't think of her channel right now), but you girls have similar personalities and presentation style. It'll come to me. Anyway, good luck to you.
The channel I was thinking of is called Roaming Reckless. Oh, and I subscribed ;)
If you soak terra cotta for 24 hours it will help with the rate of absorbtion that the water can cause.
Can I live next to you? Wow!
What was the adjustment to the flow that you made and why?
Question- how do any critters that fall into the big/ bottom pot get out before drowning?
how do we prevent algae? Will the water stay safe for birds? Is there anything we should do to ensure the water stays good for the wildlife?
Love this. My only concern in the big pot at the bottom if small animals fall in & cant get out. Maybe a stick or two so they can crawl out.?
Great point! We have made some revisions with a bit of mesh to cover the opening since this was published!
Is there anywhere you listed the items you used? I don’t see anything. Trying to see how many inches are showing of the second pot from the large pot
Use Aquarium Silicone so it doesn’t poison the wildlife.
How do you keep the water clean? Even with my water pump keeping the water moving, it seems to get green and dirty.
Love this! You may have said and I missed it, but how often does something like this need to be cleaned? And when it's time do you just take it apart and give it a scrub with a cleaning brush or is there more to it?
Thank you! So far we've just filled it with water when it evaporates, it hasn't really had a chance to get stagnant in the Utah heat. But yeah, when that water gets a little less bright looking, take it apart, empty it out, and give it a good scrub with diluted vinegar! After that dries out you're good to go!
That is so much more than you need even for a beautiful fountain. And you should not seal things down it is toxic
Does this run 24/7? Or do you turn it off at night?
Was there just water in the biggest base pot?
Get a used kiddie pool free or real cheap and use that for a pond
The only thing I would worry about is lizards falling in the deep basin and getting stuck... Not sure how to fix that
I don’t see how you sealed the pump wiring the bottom of the pot . And why not use solar ?
Probably a breeding ground for mosquitos when off
You buried the electrical cord in the bottom how’s it going to turn on unless it’s solar?
Did you need to do anything to winterize it for your SLC winter temps? That’s always concern for our Colorado winters.
We just drained it and wrapped it up, worked wonderfully!
Where is the electrical cord coming out of the bottom pot ?
How many times does she have say that we can use things around the house?????
Wow, beautiful. Can this be done using a solar pump?
But only when there is direct rays of the sun on the charging panel: when it’s cloudy, no: if trees or bushes cause shade during part of the day, no; when the sun goes down below the trees/fence/house next door, no; and at night, no.
We are going to be experimenting with this shortly! Our first small scale experiment is doing nicely. We'll keep you updated!
Okay but that Big empty bottom pot literally is a hazardous area where little creatures such as Chipmunks or other animals that can drown very easily, because they will have no way out. You need to put rocks in their in a manner that any code or chipmunk or mouse or anything that gets in that pot can climb its way out!
They can’t get in if they can’t get out.
We have added a layer of mesh to the top of the pot to stop this from happening, sadly, this video has had so many comments on it that there hasn't been a way for folks to see that we have made changes!
I’m not understanding how the pump is powered. ???
Can’t see .. . . 😟 what you bought and what you were demonstrating. I think it’s the camera person trying to capture what you were describing 😮
water feature.. Irs one thing to build another to maintain properly or else the living things drinking from it can get seriously sick or die
How do you keep it clean?
The best way is vinegar and water, about 1 part vinegar to 9 parts water. Run that through the cycle, let it circulate a little, drain it off and let it dry before refilling.
@@yardfarmerco Thank you yardfarmerco
What will silicone do over time to the birds, insects that drink from there?
shouldn’t do anything I would think. Silicone is used for surgeries, hygiene products and baking equipment because it doesn’t react to anything irrespective of moisture or temperature 🤷♀️
This is really cool, but to take care of it and keep it from getting slimy you would have to treat that water water with some type of chemicals that might not be safe for insects, etc. to drink.
I noticed that any type of beads are or containers you have water and can get really nasty slimy even smelly get debris from the air in it. It’s just not appealing. And ends up being a lot of work to keep it all clean the marbles get slimy.
I learned from having floating candles and different types of beads and rocks, etc. in water just on my big coffee table with candles that it’s a maintenance!
I’m looking for one percent maintenance! I guess I wouldn’t mind having something but this is way too complicated for me. Maybe a little one that’s already together and connected and you just buy the little unit for 50 bucks you set it on your countertop you plug it in or out on your patio and you plug it in and that’s good !😅
Reason number one I can bring it in the house in winter time. I live in Michigan well that means you get about 2 1/2 months three months maybe of summer and then the rest is cold and hot spring cold and hot fall. And then a long winter so it won’t be I don’t want anything. I have to deal with for winter .
I have dogs so anything that’s 12 inches or lower might get peed on outdoors!!
Once upon a time I used to like all these types of projects now I just like to buy some nice plants. I can sit around outside on my deck when I’m sitting in my swing chair watching the birds at the birdfeeder and the birdbath and some candles I might have out in the evening time and then everything could be brought in easily for winter. I did all these things years ago but anymore I just don’t have the energy or the desire so I’m looking for stuff that’s one percent maintenance or less.😅. It’s my time to relax the rest of my life.😊
Enjoy your relaxation time, you've earned it! I think the biggest difference between where you are at and where we are comes down to climate. We're so arid and dry here in Utah that projects like this rarely get slimy and funky, but we've seen areas like the Pacific northwest do EXACTLY what you are talking about!
@@yardfarmercoI live in Arizona and my birdbath gets hot. Plus we have very hard water. The doves also poop in it, so I have to dump the water out daily and refill. In the summer, I refill throughout the day to refresh with cool water. I would love to have something like this, but I think the maintenance would be prohibitive.
Hummingbirds I am having issues. I have food out.
Oh my fucking God. They'll eat hornworms?!!?! My cats brought like 20 hummingbird moths in my house this year, I was expecting to need to hunt hornworms with a blacklight, like, daily to have ANY tomatoes. I haven't found a single one! All hail my new happy waspy best friends!
Yay!
But the prettiest pot is covered up.
Boy she made this harder than it had to be
Very nice fountain. Probably would have to be more sturdy if you have a "cat" pollinator.
Yeah, it's pretty stable with water in it for sure, but something like a cat or raccoon is going to cause some issues! In that case I would recommend using a waterproof caulk to keep all the parts together, but that eliminates the ability to take it apart for troubleshooting.
You could always just move to China or Dubai
I love it but see one hitch. We have larger critters (mostly the raccoon variety) that come by for a drink also and they would knock that apart in no time so it would have to be immovable. 🥲
Raccoons are DEFINITELY a design flaw for this! There are ways around it, but I'm pretty sure the raccoons would be taking notes and figure it out!