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Building liner ponds
Surprisingly enough, it is usually in mid-summer that many
gardeners begin to think about installing a small pond or water garden.
Ponds don't need to be weeded or watered, and they can supply exuberant
color in the form of water lilies and bog plants.
The sound of a splashing fountain or waterfall is more appealing
than weeding a flower bed or mowing that section of lawn. Best of
all, no matter how hot or wet it gets, the pond just keeps on blooming!
At this point you may start to think about the expense and
labor of installing a concrete pond, and our 95 degree days are just
about enough to stop this pond daydream in its tracks.
However, with the advent of newer pond liners and pre-formed
pools, the misery associated with concrete mixing and finishing is
a thing of the past. Heavy duty pool liners with 10 year guarantees
are now common, and can sell for as little as $1.00 a square foot.
Preformed ponds in many different shapes and sizes are also
an alternative method to create a quick pond at less cost than using
concrete. Using these materials, the average gardener can install
a decent size pond in less than one day, and have it stocked with
plants, fish and fountain by the following morning.
The simplest kind of pond to build is an above-the-ground
pond. Since no digging is required, it usually takes much longer 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 inches thick
by 12 inches wide, nail them together to form a rectangular shape
of the desired dimensions, and place the form 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 with some kind
of padding or cushioning material. Most books say to use sand, but
I think the perfect material is roofing felt. It is cheap, convenient,
lies flat, makes a barrier to weeds, and provides a good cushion for
the pool liner.
Once the roofing felt is in place, the pool liner can be dropped
into the form and you begin filling the pond with water. A few staples
on the outside of the pond form may be needed to keep the liner from
blowing into the pond, but be sure to use just a few, and place them
at the edge of the liner.
As the pond fills, the weight of the water will do a good
job in smoothing out wrinkles, but if you are a perfectionist, you
can help smooth them out by hand before there is more than one inch
of water in the bottom of the pond. While the pond is beginning to
fill, you can check the level of the form, and if it needs to be raised
a little on one or two sides, this can be done by carefully inserting
some shims to raise the forms where needed.
If you prefer the pond to overflow on a certain side (like,
into the flower bed, rather than onto the deck!) then you may want
to leave the overflow side a quarter inch lower than the rest of the
pond.
You should wait until the pond is completely filled before
cutting any excess liner or doing any permanent stapling. This will
give the water pressure enough time to pull the liner into every nook
and cranny where it needs to go; some of those few holding staples
which you used to hold the liner in place may actually tear loose
as the pond fills, but if you stapled the liner on the outside of
the form, near the edges, then no harm is done... you will be trimming
some of that excess liner off, anyway.
It really does take longer to fill this kind of pond than
it does to build it. I once built a twenty-by-thirty foot pond in
two hours but it took all night for it to fill with water.
I think an ideal depth for an above ground pond is about 14
inches, 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. are all possible materials for pond
building.
Remember that any kind of wood must be pressure treated if
you want it to last more than a year! Although I mentioned rectangular
shape, if you have some carpentry skills, you can also do triangles,
pentagons, ponds within ponds, etc.
Ponds built with treated lumber planks do not need any side
support if they are less than 8 feet or 10 feet long; if you are building
larger than that, you will want to drive a stake into the ground where
the planks are to be nailed together, so the water pressure won't
make the planks bow outward. So, if you know how to use twelve nails
to nail four planks together, then you can build a pond. If you are
feeling lazy, have the lumber yard cut the planks to size you need.
Borrow your neighbor's staple gun, find those scissors buried in the
kitchen 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
the pool shape you want. Once everyone agrees that it is a pleasant
shape, and it is large enough, you can dig a trench along side the
hose, and start digging.
Remember, the pool does not have to be more than 12 to 16
inches deep, so don't get carried away. If you want a waterfall, some
of the excavated soil can be mounded up near the pond for later waterfall
construction. In some cases, it may be useful to use some of the soil
for a berm around the pond, so that is another way to dispose of excavated
soil.
Once the pond is excavated, check the level, decide which
side you want excess rainfall to flow from, and then you are ready
to line the hole with roofing felt, running it across the pond, up
the sides onto the edges of the pond. Drop the liner in, weigh it
down lightly with some rocks around the edges, and start filling.
Again, do not trim any excess liner until the pond is completely
filled. Some pond books say you should create a shallow shelf in the
pond before putting in the liner, but they don't have our river sand
and rainfall to deal with. I think it is better to build the pond
to a depth of 14-16 inches, and just use bricks to prop up those bog
plants that don't want to sit too deep in water. This gives greater
flexibility in rearranging the pond plants as you wish, and avoids
the calamity of a shelf suddenly slumping into the pool. When using
pool liners, whether in the ground or above the ground, it is important
to conceal the edges from sunlight, since that is what eventually
breaks down most liners.
Using stones or lumber planks to finish off the edge of your
pond will make it more appealing, and enable the liner to live up
to its ten year guarantee. Even the heavier, preformed plastic ponds
should have their edges covered by sod or some paving material, so
the sun can't reach it. Some final pointers: if possible, locate your
pond away from trees, in a place that gets at least five hours of
direct sun daily. This will allow you to grow a wide variety of pond
plants.
Be sure to use a dechlorinating product when you first fill
the ponds... the new chemicals in our drinking water do not dissipate
quickly and they will kill your fish and damage your plants, even
ten days after you have filled the pond!
Be sure you are pleased with the size and shape of your pond
before you start - so you won't say "I should have made it bigger,
or longer, or rounder, etc.", within two hours of filling it!
Rule number one in pond building is that no matter how big
your pond is, you always want a bigger one.
Last, but not least, if you decide to do an in-the-ground
pond, why not serve refreshments and get some friends to help . .
. friends will have all kinds of useful ideas on how you should do
it ... which is fine, as long as they keep digging...
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Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites including MacArthurWatergardens.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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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brett_Fogle
