Having a pond in the garden can be a great source of enjoyment for homeowners, but you have to make sure that it is safe enough for children and other animals. There are many reasons that a pond is a great addition to your garden:
- You can have a wide variety of gorgeous plants growing, from water mint to marsh marigold.
- You can sit and enjoy watching the flourishing nature that your pond attracts.
Once you settle on the idea of a pond, you can begin the fun planning stages.
Photo by Raul Popadineți on Unsplash
Where Should You Place Your Pond?
You want to ideally place your pond somewhere that benefits from a lot of sunshine. This will help keep the water at a nice temperature and encourage the plants to flourish. If you have trees in the garden, you should avoid getting too close to them, as the roots can cause damage to the liner and disturb the water too.
Some people find that raising a pond up so that young children can’t reach over the sides works, and others prefer to build a fence around the pond to protect small animals and children.
And finally, it should be somewhere that you have access to because you’ll need to keep up maintenance like clearing and planting.
When Should You Start Your Pond?
When it comes to choosing the right time for a pond installation, try to avoid frost during construction. Fall and Spring tend to work the best as the ground isn’t too dry and easy to dig into. However, if you choose to do it in Fall, then you should hold off on planting anything until Springtime.
How To Start Your Pond
There are a number of pond options that you can consider. If you decide on a preformed pond, then place it on the site and mark out the edges with sand. If you are creating your own pond, then use a liner sheet and sand. Something to keep in mind is that liners are always great at fitting into tight corners and curves unless a professional is fitting them. Consider which fish or plants you will have because this will impact the choice Tsurumi pumps you will use.
When you are digging, keep the topsoil and the denser subsoil separate – you can use the latter to build up the level of the liner.
Preformed pond:
- Dig your hole 5cm wider than you need, and deeper than the pond too.
- Backfill with 5cm of sand, check using a spirit level for evenness.
- Rest the pond on the sand to make sure it is supported
- Fill the pond, make sure that the edges stay level with the ground, and backfill as necessary.
- Create a border with the topsoil you stored.
If you choose to go for a lined pond, then there are some great YouTube tutorials that can cover the whole process.
A garden pond can be a wonderful addition to any garden that is trying to encourage wildlife, with wildflowers, birdhouses and more.
