Vera Saar's Pond - How the Pond was Built

When you decide on the site of the pond, here are a few considerations. Choose a place where you can see the pond and where it can be seen and appreciated. It shouldn't be where it is in the way of yard traffic and yet reasonably close (but not too close) to your electrical outlets for powering your pumps and lights.

The size of your pond depends on what you want, how big your yard is and what pleases you. You can get pre-made ponds or pond liner to create your pond. I prefer the pond liner route since it is the opportunity to truly customize a pond or water feature to your landscape. There are some basic problems with preformed ponds. One is that the hole you dig for a preformed pond has to be exactly the same as the shell. If it isn't, you may have uneven pressure along the walls, leading to future cracking and leakage. Another problem recently pointed out to me was that when the shell has been drained for winter, there is the chance that water will seep between the ground and the shell to the point where the water can gather underneath the shell and the pond was actually lifted or floated up above ground.

My pond is 7ft by 9ft by 2.5ft deep. Here are a series of photos showing the progression ...yes the video is of my dog contributing his energy to the project. he was disappointed when there was no more hole. He hasnt jumped into the pond (just yet)...







Sometimes as you dig, you will find a big rock trophy.... this one was about 50lbs. It's always a risk when you want to dig the pond just another few inches deeper, and you might find something you didn't expect.







Remember to leave shelves on the sides of the pond so you can place plants or lights or filtration boxes.






Then the next step is placing the pond liner. When you decide to get pond liner use the following equations to decide how much to purchase:

Length of liner = Length of pond + (2 times Depth of pond) + 2
Width of liner = Width of pond + (2 times Depth of pond) + 2

In my case the liner is:
Length of liner = 9 + (2x2.5) + 2 = 16 ft
Width of liner = 7 + (2x2.5) + 2 = 14 ft

The size of my pond is L x W x D x 7.5 = 9 x 7 x 2.5 x 7.5 = 1181.25 gal (US)

Here is a picture of the underlay. Underlay is a felt like material used to cushion the rubber pond liner. It helps to keep sharp rocks and objects from puncturing the EPDM liner.



It does take two people to lift and position a liner this large (and heavy). The fence is 6ft tall (for scale).

Here are some more pictures, complete with silk plant water lilies, some water hyacinths, 2 pumps, a filter, some lights and a mister... the ambience is complete!
Enjoy.