How to build a garden pond: choosing site & pond liner

If you think you want to build a garden pond for yourself or if you are wondering why your last efforts to build a garden pond were such a disaster, there may be just a small key point of technique in the installation of the preformed or flexible liner that may have been missed.

Take care to build a garden pond well initially. Know how to build a garden pond properly on paper or in the mind first.

How to build your garden pond

Build a garden pond well ... here's the very basic secret: Do it right from the very start.

The basic foundations to build a garden pond whether you choose preformed pond units or flexible pond liner materials is initial planning for later successful implementation of pond project.

Planning the pond

When it comes to planning to build a garden pond this initial work preferably needs to be done on site with a tape and a piece of hose or even string to be able to map the shape out on the ground itself.

This will help you see how your build a garden pond ideas will look from various parts of the garden and especially the home. For 6 months of the year this is from where you will see it most. Some people like to draw a plan of the chosen site to test out their landscaping ideas. Others will like to sketch out the landscaping ideas as they would see them, perhaps on tracing paper over a photograph of the site from a typical viewpoint.

Basics To Think About When You Decide To build a garden pond

• Build a garden pond in full sun especially in the UK.

• Build a garden pond away from trees and prevailing winds that could carry leaves into the pool.

• Avoid trees with poisonous leaves. In the UK these include Willow, Elder, Poplars, Laburnum, Yew and Oak.

• Avoid too much exposure to prevailing winds.

• Build a garden pond to avoid boggy areas in your garden.

• In thinking how to build a garden pond consider now whether you will have waterfalls, fountains, filters, lights and other accessories like Ultra Violet Clarifiers.

• You will need an adequate power supply to build a garden pond and the connections to cope. This is one of the largest cost factors to be taken into consideration when discussing and exploring your landscaping ideas.

• Consider accessibility to a water supply.

• You build a garden pond and then what are you going to do with the excavated soil? Keep the top soil, but what about the rest.

How to build a garden pond in tricky landscape situations

If you build a garden pond on garden terrain that is sloping away from the main viewpoint or if you are planning a raised water feature, formal or informal, in your landscaping ideas then hammer in several pegs around the extremities of the shape level with each other that will indicate the final proposed water level. This will give you some idea as to how level the site is, how much water you will see and how much building up is required.

If the garden pond is flush with or below the surrounding terrain then conduct one or two exploratory excavations to check for possible bedrock and to provide peace of mind in respect to drains and power conduits.

What is the difference Between preformed or flexible Pond liner? 

• Size and shape for the chosen area determines this choice really above all else ... larger more complex shapes need flexible pond liner materials. A small standard shape can be bought form most garden centres.

• Build a garden pond to be stable from an aquatic viewpoint ... ie the well-being of fish and aquatic plants. Then you should consider a pool with a surface area of at least 3.3 square metres or 30square feet.

• There may be the just the shape amongst the array of preformed pools on offer that fits your conception perfectly. On the other hand, armed with your dimensions, you will possibly find that those preformed pools stacked up in racks at the garden centre that look so vast, would seem pretty insignificant in your allotted space. It is an easy way to build a garden pond nevertheless

how to estimate the size of a flexible liner

Add double the depth to the length and breadth of the proposed size. The minimum depth ought to be 18inches to 2ft or half a metre.

Build a garden pond with a simple shape and avoid sharp indentations to the shape as these take up liner material.

If you do have dramatic curves inwards on the shape like a traditional scallop shape on a formal pool, measure around the shape to allow for the extra liner you will need.

price Considerations To Think About For Your Pond Project.

There is not a lot of difference in the cost square foot whatever you use to satisfy your landscaping ideas, and properly installed the life expectancy of both is pretty similar. In fact if you were to build a garden pond according to the coffee-table books in a situation like a perfectly level lawn against a backdrop of a solid stone wall, with a neat stone edging surround and a rockery at the back, the time and effort of installation is pretty much the same too.

Preformed Ponds for consideration in landscaping ideas

• Size limitation. Even the largest sizes of plastic pools are difficult to install level. Very large fibreglass pools are very heavy.

• Fibreglass pools seem easier to install in loose uneven ground. For the very large fibreglass pools, installation is not a one-person project.

• Easier to keep clean but can look sterile in a natural environment.

Flexible Liners for consideration in landscaping ideas

• Can be any shape and any size

• Needs a skeletal framework of blockwork or concrete to cope with loose soil or uneven ground.

• Can be made to look more natural by facing the inside with rockery. You can even line it with soil.

• Marginal plant shelf can be where ever you choose.

• Easily incorporate such features as jetties, decking, stonewalls, brick or wood facing and beaches.