An outdoor water garden provides focus, beauty, and value to your home’s backyard. And while it may seem like an expensive project, it doesn’t have to be a wallet-busting proposition. You can easily create your own backyard oasis for less than $500. It won’t take long, either: by following our DIY guide, you can create a beautiful water garden over one weekend.

Tools and Materials:

• Small plastic pond or pond liner
• Shovel
• Large and small rocks
• Plants (both regular and aquatic)
• Submersible water pump
• Hose for the water pump

1) Determine Placement of the Water Garden Ideally, the water garden’s location should be a flat, level surface somewhere near an outside power outlet. Depending on your location you choose, you may want to install a dedicated outlet for your water garden’s pump so there are no extension cords running across the surface of the ground.

2) Dig the Hole for the Water Garden If you are using a pre-molded plastic pond, dig out the shape and depth of the pond so it can be dropped in. If you are using a pond liner, then you can make the hole as deep and wide as you like as long as the liner fits inside and overlaps the edges of the hole by a foot or two. If you are using a liner and you want a cascading effect, dig the hole so it has two layers, or depths.

3) Position the Rocks Use the largest rocks to frame the edges of the water garden (the larger rocks will also help hold the pond liner in place if you used liner). Fill in the gaps using the smaller rocks and pebbles. If you dug a two layer hold for your liner, place large rocks along the top shelf and the bottom to hold the shape of the pond.

4) Insert the Pump and Run the Hose Set the pump in the deepest part of the pond and run the water hose to where you want the waterfall to originate. Secure the pump in place by placing stones around it.

You can have the water stream directly out of the concealed hose and over the rocks at the highest point on the pond or you can build a unique design using terracotta pots or other items which the hose can be connected to.

Tuck the hose along the inside edge of the pond and use lightweight stones to hold it in place. Don’t use heavy stones or they may crimp the hose and stop the flow of water.

5) Fill the Pond with Water Fill up the pond with water and plug the pump in. Once water starts flowing out of the hose, top off the pond with water.

6)  Plant the Flowers The whole point to a water garden is to have it look like a garden, so plant your flowers, shrubs and other prized plants in strategic places around the pond. Keep in mind that they will grow, so don’t bunch too many plants in one location.

7) Insert the Aquatic Plants Aquatic plants are plants that will grow inside your water garden and therefore, they do not need to be planted. Just place them in your pond in the place they look the best and that’s