This has definitely been the Year of the Rain. But now, coming after the dry-as-a-bone, droughty summers a couple of years back, the sound of falling rain gives me a comfortable, full-larder feeling. I love to think of the levels in the reservoirs rising and rising, stockpiling water for next year's use. And on my own home turf, there is satisfaction - for a while anyway - as the cobbled-together leaky garden pond is constantly replenished by the free rain, and the unsightly butyl and off-kilter levels are decently concealed by a watery veil. I don't know what it is about homemade water arrangements, but they never seem to be quite right. Water in the garden conjures up ideas of restfulness, peace and contemplation, but the reality is so often a niggling and nagging feeling engendered by the less-than-perfect aspect of the DIY construction.
"Water," as Sam Feeney of the Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland points out, "shows up your every mistake." Which is why the construction of ponds, pools, rills, fountains, wall spouts and sundry other features involving the wet stuff should be assiduously avoided by the amateur - unless he or she has the skills of an engineer, the patience of a saint and the meticulousness of a watchmaker.
If you are one of those peculiarly gifted amateurs, and are hell bent on fabricating a water feature, Mr Feeney's advice is to "move slowly and painstakingly as you go". The old carpenter's adage, "measure twice, cut once," - especially when it comes to pond-lining material - should also be heeded. My own suggestion, however, is to hire a professional. (You might just find one available between now and early spring. After that, everybody starts clamouring to have their garden revamped.)
But whether you travel the DIY or the professional route to bring water into the garden, you should give careful thought to four important S-words: safety, site, sound and style. Safety. If you have children of the crawling or toddling variety, almost all water features are potential death traps. If you must have both water and children, choose a contraption of the wall-spout-and-holy-water-font type or a bubbling mill-stone set into the ground. Water and electricity: even the thought of them in the same space makes my hair stand on end. If you install a pump or lighting, use a qualified electrician. Please.
Sound. Unless you want to recreate the crashing-liquid racket of a municipal park, the sound of a water feature should be a soothing one: a gentle burble, a delicate trickle or a distant splash. Emphasis on the distant. No-one wants to sit next to a thing that sounds like a horse urinating. And a pond doesn't need to have a water squirt (as the late William Robinson was fond of calling artificial fountains). A still, reflective body of water has huge presence. Site. Working ponds (those with plants and fish) need to be situated in the sun, away from the overhanging branches of trees and with about a third of the surface covered by water plants. And while every garden is different, it's probably better to place your water feature off to one side, where you can "rediscover" it time and time again. However, where the garden layout is strictly formal and symmetrical, the water might look better smack-bang in the middle of things.
Style. To my mind, water is most beautiful all by itself. It doesn't need to spill out of a jug carried by a fibreglass adolescent or to cascade from a concrete clam shell. On the other hand, there are few things so magnificently and upliftingly ostentatious as the sight of a pop-eyed, gilded water god spouting water from between puffed cheeks. But that's best left to those who live in baroque palaces. For the rest of us, simplicity is the best bet. But how much does it cost?
The DIY route: One of the smallest and simplest of water features is a circular bed of pebbles through which water burbles or splashes, recirculated by a submerged pump. Preformed containers are available from £40 (for a 26-inch circle), a pump costs about £45, and a bag of rounded pebbles is £9. You will need an electrician to bring a power supply to the pump (usually at least two hours' work at about £25 per hour), and you can budget up to £50 for other necessities such as sand and hardcore to stabilise the base of the hole. Total expenditure: £194.
The professional route: According to Sam Feeney of the ALCI, you can expect to pay about £400 for a small pebble feature if you employ a landscaping contractor. It is double the price of the homemade article, but the end product should function properly, be perfectly level and neat, and should have caused you no pain or strife.
Address book
Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland, The Enterprise Centre, Kildare, Co Kildare. Tel: 045-522500
Suppliers of water garden products: Fish Antics, 17a The Crescent, Monkstown, Co Dublin. Tel: 012846364.
Fountains and Decor, Kingswood Cross, Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22. Tel: 01-4591724.
From January 1999, N.J. Power and Co. will have a retail space at The National Garden Exhibition Centre, Kilquade, Co Wicklow. Enquiries: 01-4564099.