Natural spring: how to utilise?

Lisa Farrelly asked 15 years ago
I am nearing completion of my new build (3 weeks away) and have found a small spring about 10 ft from the house which will naturally slope away from house. Any ideas for using this natural feature? My husband sees it as a problem which should be drained away with piping underground (up to €1,000!!), I see it as an opportunity but not sure how to approach. We have just an acre. It slopes to the back away from the house into a shook, so it can easily be drained away but such a wasted opportunity is it not?
I would appreciate any ideas – I haven’t really started garden planning yet, just a few ideas floating around, and since the bottom 5-6 metres are a softish bog I was hoping for a more natural water feature there (not fighting nature etc etc)
I haven’t seen it yet as we only discovered this today, but it is only a trickle. I am open minded – stream, pond, bog garden at bottom, using it as natural irrigation around the site……
I would appreciate help on where to go from here, so I can stop those pipes going in and do something long term.

1 Answers

Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
Any trickle of water is a great asset. It might just be a land drain and not a true spring, but the first thing is to observe how constant it is. If it is year-round so much the better, if not it can still be used.

To have natural water means that a garden pool can be dug out without using a liner, usually from an existing wet spot and you could have a pond with an associate bog garden, planted over time.

Definitely not for piping away because the wet area will be impossible to keep in lawn. Channel the water to the weet are and then away to the stream.

More at:  https://gardenie.wpengine.com/gerrycategory/garden-pools/?id=254

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