Constructing Ponds

Ponds take to most man hours out of any water feature to complete and are also the most costly. The major cost of any pond is the cost of the rocks. It is a misconception that liner and pumps are the major costs of having a water feature. When picking rocks use the ones that fit your style of yard and ones that are found close to your area. If you decide to use a imported rock the costs of your pond may double or triple depending on the style and color of the rock. When building a pond it is essential to plan out where to pond is going to be, how deep you are going to go, and what feature you are creating (eg. Koi pond or long stream). To support a long stream for example, you would need a larger amount of water in your pond. This way when the pump is started the entire pond does not empty to support the stream volume. In addition, when building the pond it is essential to have a tiered shelf around the sides. This shelf will be used to be able to stack and foam rocks into the inside of the pond. If the sides are to steep and high it is very hard to rock the inside of your pond as the rocks will continually slide down. Before placing the liner down, it is recommended that a sand base with an underlay fabric be placed down first. The underlay fabric is to prevent rocks pushed up from frost in winter from punching a hole through your pond liner. After placing the liner use and place large rocks first, extra cut offs of liner can be folded and placed under large rocks as extra cushion. Continue with smaller and smaller rocks until the pond looks completely natural. It is important to use a 3/4"-2" rock on the bottom of the pond to minimize spaces for harmful bacteria to grow between the rocks. If adding a waterfall or stream to the pond, do both at the same time as the overlap of liner from the stream/waterfall will have to come into the pond.