Building Liner Ponds

Surprisingly enough, it is usually in mid-summer that manygardeners begin to think about installing a small pond orwater garden. Ponds don't need to be weeded or watered, andthey can supply exuberant color in the form of water liliesand bog plants.

The sound of a splashing fountain or waterfall is moreappealing than weeding a flower bed or mowing that section oflawn. Best of all, no matter how hot or wet it gets, the pondjust keeps on blooming!

At this point you may start to think about the expense andlabor of installing a concrete pond, and our 95 degree daysare just about enough to stop this pond daydream in itstracks.

However, with the advent of newer pond liners and pre-formedpools, the misery associated with concrete mixing andfinishing is a thing of the past. Heavy duty pool liners with10 year guarantees are now common, and can sell for as littleas $1.00 a square foot.

Preformed ponds in many different shapes and sizes are also analternative method to create a quick pond at less cost thanusing concrete. Using these materials, the average gardenercan install a decent size pond in less than one day, and haveit stocked with plants, fish and fountain by the followingmorning.

The simplest kind of pond to build is an above-the-groundpond. Since no digging is required, it usually takes muchlonger to fill this pond with water than it does to build it!

There are many variations on this theme, but as an example,one can use treated lumber planks which are at least 2 inchesthick by 12 inches wide, nail them together to form arectangular shape of the desired dimensions, and place theform where the pond is desired.

This bottomless "box" can be placed directly on the grass,concrete, a deck, etc., and then the bottom is covered withsome kind of padding or cushioning material. Most books say touse sand, but I think the perfect material is roofing felt. Itis cheap, convenient, lies flat, makes a barrier to weeds, andprovides a good cushion for the pool liner.

Once the roofing felt is in place, the pool liner can bedropped into the form and you begin filling the pond withwater. A few staples on the outside of the pond form may beneeded to keep the liner from blowing into the pond, but besure to use just a few, and place them at the edge of theliner.

As the pond fills, the weight of the water will do a good jobin smoothing out wrinkles, but if you are a perfectionist, youcan help smooth them out by hand before there is more than oneinch of water in the bottom of the pond. While the pond isbeginning to fill, you can check the level of the form, and ifit needs to be raised a little on one or two sides, this canbe done by carefully inserting some shims to raise the formswhere needed.

If you prefer the pond to overflow on a certain side (like,into the flower bed, rather than onto the deck!) then you maywant to leave the overflow side a quarter inch lower than therest of the pond.

You should wait until the pond is completely filled beforecutting any excess liner or doing any permanent stapling. Thiswill give the water pressure enough time to pull the linerinto every nook and cranny where it needs to go; some of thosefew holding staples which you used to hold the liner in placemay actually tear loose as the pond fills, but if you stapledthe liner on the outside of the form, near the edges, then noharm is done... you will be trimming some of that excess lineroff, anyway.

It really does take longer to fill this kind of pond than itdoes to build it. I once built a twenty-by-thirty foot pond intwo hours but it took all night for it to fill with water.

I think an ideal depth for an above ground pond is about 14inches, but it can be deeper or more shallow than that,depending on what materials you are using for the form.Railroad ties, landscape timbers, concrete blocks, etc. areall possible materials for pond building.

Remember that any kind of wood must be pressure treated if youwant it to last more than a year! Although I mentionedrectangular shape, if you have some carpentry skills, you canalso do triangles, pentagons, ponds within ponds, etc.

Ponds built with treated lumber planks do not need any sidesupport if they are less than 8 feet or 10 feet long; if youare building larger than that, you will want to drive a stakeinto the ground where the planks are to be nailed together, sothe water pressure won't make the planks bow outward. So, ifyou know how to use twelve nails to nail four planks together,then you can build a pond. If you are feeling lazy, have thelumber yard cut the planks to size you need. Borrow yourneighbor's staple gun, find those scissors buried in thekitchen drawer, and you are in business!

Pond liners can also be used to make an in the ground pond.The advantage is that you can make any shape pond you want,and the ground itself supports the sides of the liner.

It is a good idea to use a flexible garden hose to lay out thepool shape you want. Once everyone agrees that it is apleasant shape, and it is large enough, you can dig a trenchalong side the hose, and start digging.

Remember, the pool does not have to be more than 12 to 16inches deep, so don't get carried away. If you want awaterfall, some of the excavated soil can be mounded up nearthe pond for later waterfall construction. In some cases, itmay be useful to use some of the soil for a berm around thepond, so that is another way to dispose of excavated soil.

Once the pond is excavated, check the level, decide which sideyou want excess rainfall to flow from, and then you are readyto line the hole with roofing felt, running it across thepond, up the sides onto the edges of the pond. Drop the linerin, weigh it down lightly with some rocks around the edges,and start filling.

Again, do not trim any excess liner until the pond iscompletely filled. Some pond books say you should create ashallow shelf in the pond before putting in the liner, butthey don't have our river sand and rainfall to deal with. Ithink it is better to build the pond to a depth of 14-16inches, and just use bricks to prop up those bog plants thatdon't want to sit too deep in water. This gives greaterflexibility in rearranging the pond plants as you wish, andavoids the calamity of a shelf suddenly slumping into thepool. When using pool liners, whether in the ground or abovethe ground, it is important to conceal the edges fromsunlight, since that is what eventually breaks down mostliners.

Using stones or lumber planks to finish off the edge of yourpond will make it more appealing, and enable the liner to liveup to its ten year guarantee. Even the heavier, preformedplastic ponds should have their edges covered by sod or somepaving material, so the sun can't reach it. Some finalpointers: if possible, locate your pond away from trees, in aplace that gets at least five hours of direct sun daily. Thiswill allow you to grow a wide variety of pond plants.

Be sure to use a dechlorinating product when you first fillthe ponds... the new chemicals in our drinking water do notdissipate quickly and they will kill your fish and damage yourplants, even ten days after you have filled the pond!

Be sure you are pleased with the size and shape of your pondbefore you start - so you won't say "I should have made itbigger, or longer, or rounder, etc.", within two hours offilling it!

Rule number one in pond building is that no matter how bigyour pond is, you always want a bigger one.

Last, but not least, if you decide to do an in-the-groundpond, why not serve refreshments and get some friends to help. . . friends will have all kinds of useful ideas on how youshould do it ... which is fine, as long as they keepdigging...

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Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites includingMacArthurWatergardens.com
and Pond-Filters-Online.com. He also publishes a free monthly
newsletter called PondStuff! with a reader circulation of over
9,000. To sign up for the free newsletter and receive our FREE
'New Pond Owners Guide' visit MacArthur Water Gardens today!
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