Outdoor living spaces have become really important in the last year (hello pandemic), and many of us have been spending more time enjoying them and leveling up our outdoor game.  Having a water view is ideal, but barring that, a backyard pond or fountain is the next best thing!

I have loved setting up my backyard deck each season for many, many years, and each year we add something new to make it even better.  

First we had seating furniture and some potted flowers.  Then we added more pots and bird feeders, and an umbrella.  A small dining table, a second umbrella, and a wall hung transom “window” and window box were added to the grilling end of the deck a subsequent year.  Another year I added a bird bath, outdoor rugs and throw pillows.  Another year I added strings of patio lights…

Last fall we added Percy, our patio heater, and used the deck all fall and some of the milder days of winter to visit with friends when inside was deemed too risky because, pandemic.  And instead of putting the deck to bed for the season, I started changing out the planters with displays of seasonal plants and greens for fall and winter.

This summer we added a fountain. A water feature has been on my bucket list (no pun intended) for the deck for a long time. Water features are perfect for that pleasant background noise of tinkling water falling that makes even steamy days feel cooler.  

“We added a fountain” sound easy, right?  Buy it, fill it with water, plug it in, relax and enjoy! 

I knew I wanted one that could back against a wall because I wanted to use it on the end of the deck that abuts the house.  And I knew I wanted one substantial enough to not look lost - so 24 to 30ish inches tall, and more classic…so no towers of rusted buckets or fake whiskey barrels, but not too formal…so no lion heads or gilded anything either. And definitely nothing spitting or peeing…

I settled on one I saw at BJ’s.  It was a stack of concrete rectangular baskets - a nice complement for my wicker furniture, the size was right, and the top tier was a planter that could replace the windowbox under the transom window grate hanging on the wall where I wanted to put the fountain.  Perfect.  Or so I thought.

I opened it and assembled it, transferring my window box plants into the top tier.  Assembly should have been easy.  Other than weighing a fair amount, as it is reinforced cast concrete, it just stacks with a series of supports and ledges that rest each tier on the back edge of the previous one.  

I am not big on reading directions…I’m one of those people that prefers to logic it out and only consults the directions if absolutely necessary.  In this case, the actual directions were completely useless anyway since they failed to add the very critical step of “connect the hose to the pump”, only saying put the hose through the hole next to the pump.  Ummmm if you want water to go from the bottom tier to the fountain tier, the hose has to be connected to the pump because. gravity?!

SO I finally got it all assembled…the casting is not stellar and it was a little rocky, but it looked exactly perfect!  I filled it with water and turned it on and voila, it circulated.  BUT unlike the picture on the box, it dribbled out of the hole and ran down the face of the tier into the bottom layer which, while circulating water, did not look or sound like a fountain.  #truthinadvertising. NOT.

But I still liked the look overall SOOOO…I shimmed, I adjusted, I played with the pump to see if I could get more force.  Nada.  I started playing with the opening to see if I could shove something in that would encourage the stream to go long and splash a bit more.  I wedged a cut section from a plastic cup in and yippee! We had noise!  Not a boisterous noise and not the cascade in the picture, but finally a stream that splashed!  The cup didn’t look great, but it was doing the job and wasn’t TOO obvious. 

We wondered if a more powerful pump would make it work properly, so a few weeks later, I ordered one that was adjustable and promised to be able to pump up 7 1/2 ft - since we only needed it to pump up about 12 inches, that seemed like a good bet for more force!  

The fountain, by this time had collected all the oak sprills that had blown off the roof and was looking pretty murky, but cement and full of water = too heavy for me to move by myself, so I went in blind (since the pump is under the support for the second tier) and hooked it up.  It recirculated faster, but still just dribbled down the face without the cup in the slot trick. Oy. And then it clogged and went on strike altogether so I unplugged it.

Finally, yesterday, when the weather gods cooperated and we weren’t going to be drowned or struck by lightening, my son and I in a fit of determination, took the whole thing apart, cleaned it all, and reassembled it, this time with proper shims to make it more stable.   It looked much better and circulated again, but STILL dribbled. REALLY??

Not to be beaten, I surmised the problem was primarily that the casting on the edge of the opening wasn’t quite right and so maybe giving it a sharper and more protruding edge would help.  

In an exercise in hydrodynamics and a whole new level of recycling, I started hacking up plastic lettuce containers from the recycling bin and trying various combinations of shapes until I hit on an L-shape that I could feed thru the slot from the back side that would catch on the inside to hold itself in place.  If I held it just right, the water would cascade in a nice stream.  Shimming it and taping it in place proved effective at keeping it at the right angle and FINALLY we have the fountain I was aiming for and the background music of tinkling water!

I shared a high five with my son and then we relaxed in our new, improved outdoor sitting room sipping iced tea.

Next week, the gas fire pit arrives…some assembly required LOL, but this is what progeny are for…

We will celebrate with toasted marshmallows and we’ll be all ready for the fall season.  I’m already planning an indoor/outdoor  September apple-fest party…