New pond - size and location help please

Sounds excellent glasgowdan. Great fun digging out and planning a pond

 

This was the trampoline excavation

 

Finally had a wee bit of time to get things going. I have reduced the size of the beds significantly and will be using a load of the rock for the submerged rock edging. I have decided the easiest way to do this is with a 4inch deep shelf at the edge which will be lined with large boulders that sit half in half out of the water, then the main 12" deep shelf for planting. One end is then going to be 18" deep in the middle, and the other will be 24" deep or a little more.

Just at a rough dug stage just now. I need to build and firm the edges properly (right hand side of shot is lower hence being banked up a bit ).



I got rid of 2t of rubble and soil. The rest of the soil will be reused so that's the tip runs all done.

 

Oh, and there's going to be a bridge to walk over, see the wildlife and access the bench/pear tree area, which is going to be levelled and turfed once the pond has been dug.

 

Absolutely. The right hand/shallow end is going to have really wide areas at 12" deep and be planted up with plenty (allowing space to grow).

 

That's the pond dug. The edge is going to be a line of submerged sandstone boulders sitting on liner. It's about 6x12ft

 

Looks good provided it's level......always check the levels!

 

Straight ladders and spirit level just out of shot. I'm an OCD landscaper/home renovater so levels are one of my joys

 

I managed to get today to get the pond largely done. Spent 45 minutes bailing out the hole first thing as it's on a clay base (the deepest section of the pond broke into the clay layer) then worked fast to get it done before the rain started hammering down. I got the sharp edges smoothed over with sand, put down the underlay then the liner. No problems really. There seems to be quite a lot of creases but there's no way around this and I assume it's always the case.

I used most of the pile of sandstone blocks that I had left over from reducing raised beds to line the pond with, although I'd rather have some smart looking slate. I'm wondering if it would look alright if I bought a load of slate boulders and laid them over the top of the mounds on top of the edge of the sandstone?

I guess the other main thing to do is to cut a slit in the ground and tuck in the 'skirt'? I do have a load of 20-40mm gravel from drainage works that I could use to edge around the sandstone, possibly over the wee mounds. Though I'm still not quite picturing how it would all work.

I should have plenty time to get it ready for plants in April anyway. I mustn't forget to get the bridge built, and the safety fence too!

 

Love your pond, Dan! Great size and shape, and I think the sandstone boulders look terrific. Each to their own, but I wouldn't put slate on top. Not sure if your location is Glasgow, like your name, but if so then I am just along the road, if you want more practise at creating ponds

 

Yes, in Lenzie. I do garden for a living but tend to stick to maintenance rather than landscaping It wasn't the biggest job to be honest, but as I only get free time in little chunks it took a while. I reckon I could go from bare ground to this in a day if the stones and somewhere to tip the soil were available.

I'm going to build a bridge across it from the swing side to the grassy area between the raised beds. This is a little area with a bench and a nice pear tree. Hopefully I'll have some height around the garden again before too long and this could be a secluded quiet corner to sit and enjoy the sounds of the garden. If I had the knowhow I'd consider adding a little trickling stream feature, but would have to run armoured cable across the garden and I'm not sure I can be bothered!