Have you ever dug an unlined (puddled clay) pond?

Hi everyone

I already have a lined pond in the garden, and am thinking of digging an unlined, puddled clay pond on the allotment.

Does anyone please have any experience of this??

Cheers very much,
Alexei

 

Its generally accepted that a puddled clay pond needs a lot of clay as it needs to be able to withstand natural ground movement so you should be aiming for a layer of at least 15cm thick all over. As you have to have such a thick layer you must also make the hole bigger in order to still have a reasonable sized pond after the clay has been added.

You can not use â??ordinary clayâ? You must make sure the clay will not collapse after you have puddled it, if you grab some, squeeze it, and let go, if it falls apart, its not suitable. You can buy in clay for puddling, it is relatively cheap, however transporting it isnâ??t.

The clay must be checked for any â??foreignâ? objects such as stones twigs etc, this is so that when you puddle the clay the stones do not get in the way or move / collapse at a later date. By puddling the clay you also remove any trapped air, (to prevent creating air pockets) air pockets can cause problems later.

Being as its a pond if the weather gets hot some of the water will evaporate, when it does it exposes the clay, the exposed clay then dries out and cracks, when the water level rises, the water escapes through the cracks, it may then run behind the lower level of clay eroding what is supporting it creating more problems.

To make a puddled clay pond that will last takes a lot of effort and also requires regular maintenance. It is because of these factors you do not see many puddled clay ponds.

Good Luck

 

Thanks very much, water gardener - that does sound like quite a bit of work then ;(

 

Ive done it, more on the scale of small lake than pond.

The hauladge firm tipped around 30 tons of clay for me and I spread this evenly over the pond bed using a grading bucket on a 5 ton 360, backtracked repeatedly to compress the clay.

The secret is 'puddling' or compacting it, if your using a digger then go for a heavy one eg 3 ton or over.

 

Cheers, Pro Gard. I was thinking of doing it by hand on a much smaller scale - a pond of approx 3000 litres

 

timecharger, take pictures as you go, should be interesting. (But a liner is quicker and better)

 

We dug a pond last spring, about 6m by 5m. Because the soil is already heavy clay we just dug the hole then ran the digger over it a few times and it holds water perfectly. We had to be careful not to dig too deep and come out under the layer of clay. What's your soil like?

 

My dad and I between us have done several of these, as have neighbouring gardeners. The amount of work involved depends largely on the composition of the soil, and the general shape of the patch of land.

In every case that my dad and I have done, we have always worked with what's already there. In our case we have always found clay below the top soil when doing this, and have always dug a point that naturally drains badly after rain, and at a point where all the surface run-off naturally collects.

The trick is, if you work with the natural layout, life will be easy. Work against it and you've got a big project on your hands.