Beauty on the site: we build a decorative mill for the garden with our own hands

Features of an interesting design

You can make a mill for a garden with your own hands from wood or stone, in some cases it is supplemented with a waterfall. A standard wind turbine is made in the form of an isosceles trapezoid with blades attached to one side of the structure. For added credibility, they can be rotated.

In general, a homemade garden mill consists of several parts:

• base with foundation;
• main building;
• roof;
• wind blades.

The decorative structure is intended to become the center of a stylized composition, which can be complemented by a suitably sized fake well made in the same style, a miniature decorative haystack, or even pet figurines.

Do-it-yourself garden mill video

This video will show you how to make a decorative garden mill with your own hands.

Which style to choose

When starting to build a garden mill, it is better to decide in advance on the style in which the composition will be sustained. The most popular are:

1. Japanese style. Here, the absence of unnecessary decorative details is welcomed, an emphasis is placed on minimalism and elegance. The main components of the composition are natural stone, water and plants. When equipping a garden in Japanese style, you want to contemplate the greatness of the water element without being distracted by trifles. You can complement the mill with a small bench made of the same material. You can decorate the shore of the reservoir with small pebbles or shell rock. For the Japanese style, plants without bright colors are suitable.
2. Country style. This design will appeal to those who miss the rural romance. The mill should be wooden, can be located on the shore of a miniature reservoir and be complemented by a fake water mechanism. The roof can be made from straw or reed.
3. Russian style. This trend resembles a village style in many ways, but differs in the peculiar charm of a traditional Russian village - rough timber, carved shutters, clay pots on the fence and a weather vane with a cockerel.
4. Dutch style. Combines the charm of a European province and a riot of colors. Here, the mill should be surrounded by colorful tulips and crocuses, hedges and a parterre lawn.

Technological process

Before proceeding with certain actions, you should carefully prepare. And you need to start with the development of a drawing of the future decoration and markup of the plot diagram. Step-by-step instructions include the following stages of work:

• development of a sketch of the scenery;
• creation of a detailed drawing indicating the size of each part;
• choice of material based on the characteristics of each specific mill;
• assembly of the composition directly.

Stone mill

A stone mill is much easier to build than a wooden counterpart, because here you can skip the drawing development stage.

To stabilize the mill, it should be placed on a foundation. The optimum base depth is 1.5–2 shovel bayonets.We put reinforcement in the prepared hole, pour concrete and leave it to dry for several days.

The size of the future structure depends on your preferences. The main thing is that the parameters of the structure correspond to the size of the foundation.

Now we proceed to the construction of walls from stones and mortar, trying to maintain the necessary trapezoidal shape of the structure. Do not forget to mount a special hairpin in the upper part of the structure, on which we will attach the windmill wings.

The propeller can be made from a regular sheet of plywood by cutting a hole in the center to fit the stud. If the size of the plywood allows, the blades and disc can be combined and cut from one sheet. If not, then cut out the wings of the windmill separately and attach them to the plywood disc. We install the resulting element on the hairpin and fix it on both sides.

Made of wood

Wooden decorative windmill consists of several modules:

• lightweight foundation construction;
• base platform;
• mill housing;
• wing-blades.

Even for a wooden mill, a simple foundation is necessary - without it, the decoration will simply fall apart. The best option is a metal bar cast into concrete to a shallow depth. Moreover, the decoration mounted in this way cannot be stolen. We make the support platform from thick boards to give the structure stability and monumentality. Its size should be slightly wider than the mill body.

The finished platform is laid on a prepared foundation, pretreated with protective equipment in order to minimize the negative impact of atmospheric phenomena. We assemble the body in the form of a pyramid from bars of different diameters, fastening with screws or nails. After that, we assemble a classic gable roof made of chipboard or plywood, fastening the elements with slats into a single whole. We fasten the roof to the mill body with self-tapping screws.
Now it's time to assemble the blades and attach them to the structure. We fold the wing slats crosswise, make a hole in the center and attach the parts to the front side of the body.

With a waterfall

If you set out to build an analogue of a water mill, you will have to additionally assemble a swivel wheel. For this purpose, it is quite possible to use an old bicycle wheel or any object equipped with an axis of rotation. If nothing suitable is not available, the wheel can be assembled from moisture-resistant plywood by drilling holes in the center to secure it to the hairpin.

Otherwise, the process of assembling a mill with a waterfall is no different from building a windmill. We install a water mill on the shore of a decorative reservoir, supply the composition with a small pump that will supply water from the pond to the mill wheel. The latter will rotate arbitrarily under the influence of water entering the wheel pockets.

Decor options

Simply, the mill, assembled and installed in the right place in the garden, will look boring and uninteresting. The composition requires additional decoration: equip your mill with carved shutters, place a miller figurine inside, or you can carry out LED lighting, and then at dusk the mill windows will mysteriously glow.

We should also dwell on landscaping: the more beautiful greenery around, the better.

Building a decorative mill is easy, and the effect in the garden will be stunning. Trust me, the result is worth the effort.