How to Build a Large Garden Pond
The best way to tackle a big landscape water feature project is to go in with a plan. Include beaches and areas of shallow water along some of the edges to attract mosquito-devouring amphibians, insects and birds. Provide shelves of differing depth for marginals and floating-leaf plants such as water lilies. Plan an area two feet or deeper for your fish to overwinter. A plan drawn to scale keeps everyone involved on the same page. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Permits (if necessary) Stakes or landscape marking paint Backhoe or shovels Pickaxe or jackhammers (if necessary) Polyethylene or butyl rubber sheeting (aquatic grade) Old carpeting, washed thoroughly and allowed to cure for six months Pond liner adhesive River rock Topsoil Pea gravel and/or sand Underwater plants Marginals Floating-leaf plants Free-floating plants Water testing kits Water treatments (if necessary) Fish (optional)
Instructions
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Check with your homeowner’s association and with your municipality for restrictions or necessary permits. Call the local utilities and have them mark the existing underground utilities. You may have to obtain permits and hire contractors to alter the routes of exiting utility lines. If your property is the site of an existing wetland, it may be protected by state law and require additional permits.
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Mark out elevations with stakes or landscape marking paint. Excavate the site with a backhoe. You may rent it, provided you have whatever certifications the rental company may require to operate the machinery. It’s usually better to hire a professional if you don’t have experience operating the equipment. If you dig a large pond with shovels instead, the excavation may several days. Break up hard soils and rock with a pickaxe or, in the case of bedrock, a jackhammer.
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Line the pond with polyethylene pond sheeting or butyl rubber. For exceptionally large ponds over a high water table or on high-compaction clay soils, you may not need liner. For clay soils, you must still compact the bottom surface of the entire pond. Before laying liner, remove all rocks and debris and lay down a bed of old carpeting to prevent liner punctures. Ensure there are no gaps or air pockets under the liner, and seal seams with pond-safe adhesives. Leave a two-foot overhang on the shores. Add another layer of carpeting over the lining.
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Install river rock over the carpeting for bio-enhancing texture. Install a one-inch layer of topsoil over the river rock. Along the beaches, add pea gravel or sand to help encourage beneficial microbes and wildlife. Begin filling the pond with water. Plant plenty of oxygenating underwater plants in the topsoil along the bottom of the pond. Finish filling the pond. Ensure 40 to 60 percent shading of water surface by planting marginals, water lilies and free-floating plants such as duck weed.
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Test the water for heavy metals and pH before adding fish. Aquatic stores and garden centers sell treatments for almost any pond issue. pH should measure between 6.5 and 7.5 for most fish. Allow the chlorine in the water to volatilize for at least 36 hours. Do not overstock the pond with fish. This will disrupt the balance in your pond, causing low dissolved-oxygen fish kills, algae blooms, toxic ammonia buildup and other pond maintenance problems.
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Tips & Warnings
Kick-start your pond with a bucket of water and muck from a healthy, established pond. This will have a plethora of beneficial and pond-balancing microorganisms in it. Introduce the kick-starter after all the chlorine has volatilized from the water, or the chlorine will kill the microorganisms. Ensure that your pond is built near access to a constant supply of water for topping off. Allow the chlorine in the topping-off water to volatilize before adding it to the pond. If you want to stock an abundance of fish, you must install a pump and filtration system, and perform regular maintenance on these systems. The carpeting, rocks and soil over the liner not only protect the liner from UV damage, but also provide a habitat for microorganisms that improve the balance and health of the pond.
Do not use extensive pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers in areas that will drain into the pond. Do not use fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides right before a rain. Redirect runoff from roads and farmland away from the pond. Toxins and fertilizers in the runoff can kill fish and other pond life, or cause excessive algae blooms. When choosing aquatic plants, avoid invasive species. Many are prohibited by law, and are also a nuisance to pond-owners. If there are trees near the pond, skim the leaves during the fall. A few leaves aren’t harmful, but too much organic matter encourages algae blooms that may lead to fish kills.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit pond image by Nicola Gavin from Fotolia.com
