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Building Liner Ponds
Brett Fogle


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 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...

Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites including www.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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