Turn Old Clay Plant Pots Into A Stunning Backyard Water Feature

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Getting outdoors, away from screens and manufactured environments, has been shown to have a multitude of health benefits — from improved heart health and cognitive function to better quality sleep. Nature could be considered a kind of medicine. The sound of running water is also soothing. Even in the smallest of patios, there's no reason you can't add an outdoor water feature to your landscaping. A tabletop fountain composed of common garden pots is a budget-friendly DIY project that may help mask unwanted urban noise with its gentle trickling, attract wildlife, and maybe even reduce stress and improve air quality by generating negative ions.

TikTok creator Sweet Tea Soil & Sanity created a tumbling-style fountain with whole and broken clay pots, foraged rocks, seashells, and sea glass. It's a charming, personalized piece of functional outdoor art that isn't hard to make or customize. All the basics for this project can likely be found at your local garden center or online, and it doesn't require any special plumbing or fancy equipment.

Gather pots of different sizes. Terracotta pots work best, but you can also use glazed ceramic planters or bowls. The base vessel could be a planter saucer or a shallow bowl, like this Vigoro Indoor Low Terracotta Bowl Planter from The Home Depot. Get a ⅜-inch diamond drill bit for the glazed ceramic and a ⅜-inch masonry drill bit for the terracotta, and gloves and goggles for safe drilling. Except for your base vessel, soak your pottery vessels in water for at least an hour before you begin this project. Want to DIY a solar-powered stone fountain for your yard? Then get an inexpensive solar-powered pump, like this Lawoho Fountain Pump Kit with Separate Solar Panel, instead of a battery-powered one. You'll also need some ⅜-inch vinyl tubing.

If your base piece has a hole, seal it with an aquarium-rated silicone sealer, like Loctite Silicone Waterproof Multipurpose Adhesive Sealant, and allow it to dry. Drill holes in the bases of the other soaked vessels using a diamond or masonry bit and widen the holes with a file if necessary. They need to be slightly larger in diameter than the vinyl tubing. Spray the inside and lip of the now-dry clay vessels with two to three coats of clear sealer, allowing each coat to dry between applications.

Next, file a notch into the wall of any pots you plan to place on their sides, allowing water to pour from them. Alternatively, cut away a portion of the damp, softened rim using a rotary tool like a Dremel fitted with a diamond cutting wheel. One pot will contain the pump, which you'll place upside down in the center of the base vessel. This pot will also need a notch in the rim to accommodate the power cord. Now, you're ready to build your water feature!

Place the pump in the base vessel and fit the tubing to the pump nozzle. If the tubing won't fit, dip it in hot water and widen it with scissors or pliers. Set the first prepared pot upside down over the pump, threading the tubing through the hole in the base and the power cord through the notch in the rim. Prop it up on some flat-topped stones or bricks if needed. Now, stack the other vessels however you'd like. Use sealant to seal around the tubing at each hole. In the top vessel, trim the tube about ½ inch above the base and seal it in place. Then connect the fountain attachment.

Get as creative as you wish when stacking the vessels one atop another. Place small pots on their side or use rocks to add additional tiers and elevate planters. You may prefer a topsy-turvy style over a more formal, refined style or vice versa. Go with whatever looks pleasing to the eye or best embodies an aesthetic you love. Once the sealant is dry, fill the base of your new fountain with water almost to the top, then connect the pump to its power source — be that a wall outlet or a small solar panel. If the water isn't flowing quite right, simple adjust the vessels until the fountain is cascading nicely.

How you fill the vessels is another opportunity to get creative and ensure this underrated water feature gives your yard a naturally luxurious touch. Add gravel or other bits and bobs that are meaningful to you — stones you foraged on a recent lake house stay or mountain hike, seashells and pieces of smooth, opaque, colorful sea glass collected on last summer's trip to the beach, or marbles from a childhood play set. You could even nestle the roots of a plant that doesn't mind being saturated, such as lucky bamboo, into one of the vessels. As you relax on your patio listening to the peaceful trickle of your new fountain, you may even find that this DIY water feature attracts more birds to your yard. Everyone can enjoy the outdoors a little bit more!