How to make a dry stream with your own hands in the country: 4 tips for creating

How many wonderful ways to refine a summer cottage exist — creating a neat emerald lawn, organizing luxurious and colorful flower beds or small ponds and waterfalls. All these methods differ in aesthetic appearance and the need for tangible financial and physical costs. After all, you must agree that in order to plant a lawn with your own hands or create a real pond, you need to invest a lot of effort. And what about not only a quick, easy, but also economical way to decorate the site? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how to make a dry stream in the country with your own hands and give 4 useful tips for creating.

The concept of "dry stream" and its clear advantages

What is a "dry stream" in general? It is a logical question that may arise after reading the first paragraph of the article. This variety of landscape decoration came to us from the Land of the Rising Sun and quickly received many rave reviews. To say that a dry stream looks magical and bewitching is to say almost nothing. Method idea is to create an imitation of a real creek from stones of various sizes and breeds. If you do everything right and approach the question with imagination, then when you look at your creation you will get the impression that a real stream flowed through your site just a couple of days ago, which simply dried up under the scorching sun. And that the slightest rain is able to instantly revive it and fill the channel with a pleasant murmur of flowing water. Water is considered a symbol of vital energy, and its contemplation brings peace and tranquility. It is with this attitude that it is necessary to start creating a dry stream, especially since it has obvious advantages before the present:

• A dry stream can be arranged in a short period of time. From the purchase of materials to admiring the end result, usually takes no more than a couple of days. Now you know what to do at the weekend cottage;
• Unlike a real body of water, the process of creating a dry stream does not include the purchase of expensive filter systems, special laying of a pipeline, planning a way to circulate water and dig deep trenches, followed by strengthening their walls and laying drainage;
• If you come to the country with small children, then you should not be afraid for their safety when playing next to a dry stream;
• With any of the stages of creation, one person may well cope;
• The materials that we will use in the work are of low cost. And sometimes they can be obtained at all for free;
• You are absolutely not limited in choosing a place, decorative elements, shape and size of your future dry stream. In addition, you are not tied to the landscape features of your site. Of course, do not contradict the laws of nature too clearly and force your imaginary water stream to flow upward. And the rest you have complete freedom of action;
• A dry stream requires a minimum of participation and care, while continuing to please you and surprise your guests;
• If the site has a place where rainwater especially accumulates during rainfall, then having organized a dry stream there, you will not only transform the overall picture, but also create a drainage system.Only in this case, the stones at the bottom of the stream are not just stacked, but fixed with an adhesive solution;
• If after a few years you get tired of the presence of an artificial reservoir in the area, you can simply disassemble it. And from the existing stones to build flower beds or garden paths;
• A “dry” pond will never become a favorite habitat for annoying mosquitoes and other harmful insects;
• If, at the end of all the work, you came to the conclusion that it would not hurt to make some adjustments, for example, change the shape a little or expand the channel, it will not be difficult to fix it.

Now let's think about what could be limitations by a dry stream? Well, perhaps the stones can overheat on especially hot days and adversely affect nearby plants ... To save the situation will help to periodically moisten the stone channel.

DIY step-by-step instructions for creating a dry stream

Now you understand what this beautiful creation is, and you can safely get down to business. The process of creating anything necessarily consists of several key steps. It is especially important to do everything competently and slowly when ennobling the territory, because it is important not only to achieve the desired result, but also to enjoy the creation of something with your own hands. So let's get started:

• Stage I - Planning and Markup to the terrain. All ideas that arose in your imagination are best perpetuated immediately on paper. Firstly, you won’t forget anything, and secondly, such visualization will help you visually compare several options and choose the best one. Look at photo examples on the Internet - there are a great many of them. Select some of the options that are most appealing in form and general appearance. After you have found a landmark for yourself, draw a plan of your site with all the buildings present on it. Dimension to understand how much free space is left for creativity. Do not forget to leave a place for movement. Any decorative element on the site should be visible and not hide in the backyard. Position the stream so that you can enjoy it while sitting in the gazebo or the veranda. When space has been determined, transfer your sketch directly to the ground. You can use pegs and twine for this. But to build smooth curved contours in this way will not work. Use regular sand. Just type a handful of dry sand and draw the outline of the channel. Evaluate the contour from different sides, go around and make corrections as necessary. Keep in mind that a long and narrow stream visually deepens the area and makes it more spacious. And wider and more direct streams are appropriate in spacious areas. If you like everything, the size is proportional to the size of free space on the site, proceed to the next step.
• Stage II - Site Preparation under the future stream. In order for the channel to have a certain contour, and the stones do not protrude too much above ground level, you need to remove the top layer of soil. Depths of 15 cm will be more than enough. Now, with the help of a rake, you need to level the bottom of the river and trample the soil or use a special heavy pancake for this. To protect the place from the appearance of unwanted weeds, we recommend covering the soil with a material that will allow air and water to pass through, but at the same time can inhibit plant growth. Ideal for this geotextiles. The seeds of some plants will still fall into your stream through the air and sprout later. But due to the presence of geotextiles at the bottom, they will not be able to take root, which means that it will be possible to get rid of them quickly and easily. By the way, if your site has irregularities, it is not necessary to smooth them. You can beat such a place and create a semblance of a waterfall.
• Stage III - selection and laying of stones. The water flow of a dry stream will be imitated using stones.You can use completely different breeds of natural origin. It can be large or small river pebbles, sandstone, booth, large cobblestones, etc. We emphasize once again - the material must be of natural origin. Broken bricks and other similar battle are categorically not suitable. Otherwise, your stream will resemble the place of collection of construction waste. Please note that to give the stream a more natural look, it is better to use stones of different sizes. At the same time, it is better to lay out the coastline with larger elements, and the stream itself with small and medium fractions. Moreover, from stone laying methods too much depends. If you lay long flat stones on the edge, the effect of a real water stream will be created. Everyone is used to the fact that water has bluish tones. But in this case it is not necessary to adhere to such strict rules. Your stream can have red-orange, gray-black and other shades. The bluish-gray stream can be laid out with the help of such rocks as slate, basalt or gneiss. The red-brown creek will be made of marble, granite or limestone. If you want to give stones Wet effect it is possible to selectively open stones with transparent varnish. To do this, they must be cleaned of dirt and dust and degreased. You can paint individual pebbles with multi-colored paints. To add colorful highlights to the stream, you can dilute the stones with decorative glass balls. Getting on the surface of the glass, the sun's rays will refract and glare, like the surface of real water.

Methods for decorating a dry creek

Your creek is almost ready. The most pleasant stage remained - decoration coastline or stream itself. A dry stream is beautiful in itself, but to give it a more natural look and emphasize its “natural” origin, we recommend planting plants around it.

• For flower decoration the most suitable are varieties that can actually grow on the shores of real water bodies. You can use small ornamental shrubs, reed species, daylily, sedge, and other grassy. If you plant decorative tall grass on the banks, then playing in the wind, they will create the effect of real waves. Not only the coast, but also the stone stream itself can be decorated with plants. For this, various succulents, flowering cacti and other low-growing plant varieties are suitable. For planting seedlings, do not forget to make holes in the geotextile. The main thing, Do not overdo it with plantations and do not distract their attention from the stream itself. Still, this is not alpine hill and not rockery. With the help of low flowering plants on both sides of the channel, you can advantageously emphasize its shape and bends. By the way, keep in mind that a stream looks more natural, the channel of which will either expand or narrow along its entire length.
• In addition to plants, you can to decorate small creek wooden bridge. The tree goes well with stones and flowering plants. Such a technique will “revive” the stream and it will seem that in the near future it will again become full-flowing and the bridge will be very useful. The appearance of this element will entirely depend on your imagination and skills. If your country house has a porch with handrails, then the bridge can be made in the same style. Or make a bridge to match your wooden gazebo. In general, if its appearance will resonate with an existing wooden element in the area, then the whole picture will be holistic harmonious. If there is no desire to work on the creation of this element, it can be purchased ready-made in any store with garden supplies.
• It looks interesting and unusual creek, the banks of which are decorated with various decorative items. It can be old clay or ceramic jugs, various figures or figurines.After some time spent on the street, the surface of these objects will naturally grow old, will grow with a little moss, will burn out, small cracks will appear. All these nuances will give the composition a noble appearance.
• Surprise your guests even more with the unusual appearance of a dry stream in the dark. To do this, its additional Decorate with backlight. To do this, you can use street lights specially designed for installation in the ground. They need to be laid even at the stage of soil preparation for laying stones. Then the light will seep through the loose stones. Completely closing the luminaires is not recommended. A simpler, but no less effective way is to place the backlight under the bridge. For these purposes, an LED strip with moisture protection is suitable. It bends easily and can simply be glued to the bottom of the bridge. And the wire can be hidden in a plastic pipe, dug to a shallow depth in the ground and brought out next to the house.
• Separately, you can talk about the method decorating the mouth stream, that is, the place where it begins. It can be executed in the form of a small stony elevation around which decorative coniferous plants grow. You can find examples of the organization of a small grotto or cave. It looks very unusual stream, which "flows" from a large clay jug. In this case, the vessel itself may be old, have chips and cracks or broken fragments. So even better.

A few tips to keep an attractive, dry creek looking

Undisputed, and one of the main advantages of a dry stream is that it is practically does not need in special and regular care. It will be enough to perform the following actions to maintain its attractiveness:

• At the beginning of the summer season, that is, in early spring, fluff the soil under the plants with a garden rake and apply a portion of mineral fertilizers;
• In the warm season, periodically inspect the stream for signs of ants. You do not need to get rid of them, but from the fine soil and sand that they are able to apply, it is still necessary;
• On hot days, water the stones with water. Their heating will have a significant effect on the microclimate and adversely affect plants;
• Over time, in any case, moss will begin to form on the stones. A small amount will add naturalness to the stream. But you should not start this process. Excessive moss will make the “pond” dirty and unkempt in appearance;
• Sometimes, after the snow cover or heavy rain falls, the borders of the stream may shift a little, not to mention small stones imitating water. Such moments must be immediately corrected or fixed stones with a solution.

That's all the efforts that this beautiful creation will require of you. We hope that our article has inspired you to new achievements.