Siting a pond on a sloping garden

Hmmm, trying to explain the layout of the garden is not easy.
Maybe these images will help

A basic plan of the garden.

It slopes from the high-point north-east, to the low-point south-west
Main landmarks on this sketch are the drive, the house, with patio to the southwest, the angle bed, and the two veg beds (now a third one has been added below)


This shows the slope on the proposed area. Here you can see the slope along the top hedge (top veg bed just visible bottom left in the photo)


This photo, taken across the garden from the drive, shows the slope down the garden - a similar gradient. You can also see the slight bank down to the drive, i.e. The drive is cut into the across-garden slope. So bringing the pond closer to the drive would mean a third gradient direction would have to be taken into consideration ...


Sorry if I'm sounding a little negative to your suggestions - I'm not, honest!

It's just that I can see the garden in front of me, with all its limitations.

There is also the small matter of scale. There is just one gardener to maintain the garden. She is a 50+ woman, with premature arthritis, and foot-problems - i.e. Me!!
The hedges that you can see in the photos are not small hedges - they are 2.2 metres tall. It already takes me nearly 2 hours to cut the grass. We have the largest self-propelled lawnmower on the general market, I'm already mowing around 10+ fruit trees, 10+ fruit bushes, as well as contending with the various gradients. There are many areas where the slope is 45 degrees - i.e. when cutting across this gradient, I am struggling to keep a large lawnmower from turning over.

One aim of the pond is to simplify the mowing, so incorporating it into an existing flowerbed is a positive, rather than creating a third island bed to mow around. By keeping it near the top bed, I would be including the lawn cherry and gooseberry bush, meaning 2 less things to mow around....

 

an updated plan of the garden (with a few scribbled notes)


Hubby has just left for the long weekend away, and my digging-out helper arrives in less than an hour!

 

Initial cutout done

 

Progress report!

My team of helpers (one is a lot more helpful than the other!)


The "turf" has been cut away, and we start to work through the surface layer of soil, full of tree roots.

Pause for breath, and a little tree-root cutting, when we are about 6" down.

When the spirit level came out, it became clear that we were working too much down, rather than across the slope. So the shape of the pond was rotated somewhat, to be across the main gradient.

Definitely getting deeper!

Starting to put the level markers in - always knew that I would find a use for the old tent's fluorescent pegs!

 

a few more photos...

Starting to get an idea of the shape of the pond, and where shelves will go - v useful now for getting in and out of the hole!

TIme for my wonderful helper to go home, and me to pause for lunch, and think a little

You can see the tips of the yellow pegs, showing the water level...

A few wooden planks, to emphasise

The "spoils of war" - have to put it somewhere for now.

An idea of how the water level will look from the driveway, and how much below the ground level it is...

And finally, a view from the bedroom window.

So, as I break for a quick bite of lunch, I have a hole about 9 foot long, 4 foot wide, and just under 3 foot deep at its deepest.

 

Bigger bigger bigger

 

I've already gone up to my budget limit in butyl liner, and have it behind the shed already...!

 

I've gone back into my hole, and done a little shelf forming work...

A gentle slope, where the pebbles will go, leading down to a deep shelf

On the other side, the corner where the granite sets will go, at the highest point of the bank above the pond, to imply a dried up waterfall.... to the right, a shallow shelf, with a deeper shelf below it.

An overview shot, again showing the pebble slope, and then the couple of shelves below it... the lower shelf goes all around the deep area.



@ARMANDII, when you say you tucked the liner into the bank above, I assume this meant you cut away the bank above, laid the liner, then put the soil back. Or did you literally just thread it into the bank, with the aid of a spade to open a channel?

It looks as if I will be on my own for the liner placement. Any tips for this? I'm planning on placing it lengthways over the hole, folded in half, with the lower flap weighed down with the granite sets. Then I will lay into the bottom of the hole, unfold a little, step out of my flip-flops, and place up the other side of the liner. Does this sound feasible, or do I need to beg an extra pair of hands from somewhere?

 

Done a little googling, and found a suitable method...

First drape your liner across the pond site - easier said than done!!



Then it was sandals off, guess where the shelves were, and step into the hole! It's sunny out there at the moment, so I'm using that heat to flex the rubber a little, whilst I enjoy a well-earned cuppa. Then I'll go back out and see if we can reduce some of the worst folds. View looking towards the veg beds - you can just about make out the pebble ramp?

View from the other side (looking towards the drive)

...and finally, of course, the view from our bedroom window (had to resist the urge to check that the bed was as comfortable as it looked!!)

 

Yes, I checked thoroughly - one advantage of sandy soil is there aren't many stones. The butyl was also delivered in a protective wrapping of liner underlay (had kittens for a few seconds, thinking they'd sent the wrong stuff, before I realised) so I had a 6'x4' underlay - enough to protect the liner on the deepest part of the hole. We did find two more granite sets though, whilst digging it out!

Ok, I'll get a pair of shorts on (in case I need to sort from below), and get the hose out. No selfies, I promise!!

 

Its looking good Sian , my one concern is the roots i guess these liners are quite tough .

 

The last photos for today - promise!

Water in the pond, almost to the point of overflow. The planned overflow route is the dark line, just to the left of the selection of small tiles.


Taken from the drive...

The view from next to the veg bed.

And the all-important view from the bedroom window!

I managed to trundle a lot of the excavation soil down the garden, whilst it was filling up. I have been planning on where it will all go for months - but the rest will be my workout for tomorrow, if I can move!
Time for a wash, a ton of moisturiser on my hands, as have nothing that needs sandpapering right now, and then cook up some Chinese noodles for tea!

 

It's really coming together nicely @Sian in Belgium . You've done an amazing job. It's always good to challenge yourelf I think, you never know what you might achieve . Have you chosen plants yet? I'm looking forward to more pics