Pond Building with Matt and the Gang
<p>I’m a real man I’ve got a Fork Lift Truck Licence! Not only that, I have built a pond with my own hands, not a great one but a hole with water in it nonetheless.</p>
<p>Feel assured that when you call Pondkeeper, you are not only talking to people that have first class knowledge of their products but real life experience of making a pond.</p>
<p>It was a very hot Sunday morning in Stockton-on-Tees, the plan was to make a pond from scratch and have it filled up with water before the 10 o’clock news started. We (I and two Pondkeeper colleagues) set about the task of spray painting the outline of the pond, we used a can of spray paint but you can mark the ponds parameter with rope, hose or whatever is to hand. We were happy with the size and shape of the pond and started to remove the top level of turf, always a good idea to remove the turf first; it will give you a better idea of the pond size and will make the process of digging into the ground much easier. We started to dig into the pond and make two shelves which were approximately a foot deep and the same wide, really you just want to leave enough space to plant oxygenators, marginal and such like. Now we should have used a spirit level sat on a straight piece of wood to make sure the liner would be even on both sides but we didn’t (hey ho, in the face of conventional practice), its recommended but don’t get to hung up about it, just make sure it is relatively straight and you have enough liner to overlap.</p>
<p>We didn’t know exactly how deep we should go but thought to stop at shoulder length! It was a bit of a guesstimate but we knew that it had to be at least 1.2 metres for keeping Koi. Although the soil was quite smooth and had a clay like texture there was a number of small stones on the bed which had to be raked out – always take your time to pick out sharp stones, bamboo and such like to prevent piercing the liner later down the line. We then filled the bottom with approximately 5m of sand, you don’t have to do this but any time spent now prepping the pond for the liner is certainly worth it – just imagine filling your pond and then have it spring a leak! Eeek!</p>
<p>Now for the underlay! We used a good quality fleece underlay which was 200 gsm, certainly worth investing in this! We used a number of 2m x 5m pieces; you will struggle to find a single sheet that fits the pond exactly, don’t worry about marrying the seams or anything like that, just over lap then by about an inch and use extra pieces to reinforce potentially troublesome areas – we had ‘chalky’ looking soil on the sides so used extra underlay for this.</p>
<p>Now for the <a title="Liner" href="http://www.pondkeeper.co.uk/pond-liners.asp">Liner</a>! We used Low Density Polyethylene because it’s cheap, extremely tear resistant and really easy to manoeuvre. We unfolded the liner out next to the pond and positioned it over the hole; we placed a hose into the centre of the liner and started to fill the pond, then it was a case of shoes off and get in there! Try to ensure that there are no air pockets and the liner is totally flush to the sides – I’m not going to sugar coat it – this is a freezing and arduous task but please take care to do it properly!</p>
<p>Once filled we proceeded to tuck the liner under the turf to create a nice finish to the pond but you could place a stone faced liner on the edges for a more aesthetically pleasing finish. I hope this reassures you if you have any concerns regarding making your own garden pond, it’s fairly straight forward (see below for the mandatory before and after), let me know how you get on…</p>
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