Filling large pond

Hi! I am new to gardeners corner. I have just moved to a new home that has a large pond that I want to fill.

It is two tiered and measures approximately 2 metres x 2 metres. The deepest part is 4.5 feet.

I plan on filling it with hardcore and soil to fill the gaps. Then soil on top. It will require a lot of time to settle I realise.

My question is can I bury some of the pond lining in the deepest part?

Thanks

 

What are you going to do with the space once the pond is gone? Flower bed, lawn, patio? Personally I would take the liner right out and dispose of it elsewhere. Otherwise I would worry about it contaminating the soil as it breaks down and/or interfering with drainage, long-term. Also I would not want to leave it as a nasty surprise for anyone digging up that area in years to come....

I think too it would be sensible to discover what is underneath - some people instal a cement liner before the butyl one, and even if this has not been done the bottom should have been levelled - sometimes just with sand but also with old carpet or similar, which again I would remove. If there is cement I would also smash that with a crowbar or whatever, to improve drainage and help with settling.

I had to do something a bit similar last year -taking out an old pond with a leaking butyl liner, part-filling the hole, and then using the upper part for a new smaller pond (a rigid preformed one) surrounded by a sort of 'limestone pavement' for plants, made from the rockery stones which had surrounded the old pond. I would say that settling should not be too much of a problem if you fill the hole carefully - break up any large bits of hardcore and use a rammer/ jump up and down on it!

Oh and welcome to Gardener's Corner! We're a friendly bunch and hopefully other folk will chime in with more advice and opinions soon.

 

Thanks for your informative reply.

This is what I thought. I was hoping that I would be able to cut corners with the lining. But didn’t really expect so.

I plan on most of it being lawn and a small section flower bed. I realise that once eventually filled it will need a long time to settle before it can become a lawn. I was thinking 12-18 months.

This garden is going to be a long term project.

Thanks