The Pond Blogs - Week 4 - How to Build a Garden Pond

Pondkeeper

The pond blogs – 16/06/2011

Garden Pond

The traditional garden pond is probably the most common form of water feature in a British garden.  It allows you to bring almost all aspects of a water feature into your garden.  This is a much more complex operation than creating a fountain, so we will break week we will break it down into more detailed weekly sections.  This week will look at the 1^st stage of building a pond; Location, design, and size.

Where should I put my pond?

For some people they will want a pond because of the location, for others they will need to decide on the location because they want a pond.  A pond really requires about 5 hours sunlight a day.  This allows the oxygenating plants to thrive, which help to maintain a healthy balanced pond.  Having said this, you really want to try and limit the amount of water that is in direct sunlight as it can cause an algae bloom, a great way to achieve this is to use water lilies and covering around half of the pond surface with them.  If you are wanting to use a pump and filter (recommended) then will need to ensure that you are able to get power to your pond.

How big should I make it?

This can be a key decision, the bigger the pond the easier to maintain a biologically balanced system.  An easy way to increase the size without taking up more room in your garden is to increase the depth.  Anyone considering a Koi Pond should be looking at building a pond at least 1.5m deep.  As a rule for fish, you need to work out how deep your water will freeze and then add at least another 60cm to ensure that the fish are safe.  This depth is only required for a minimum of 40% of the total area of the pond.  When digging try to ensure you stick to your measurements, as it is important to be able to work out the volume when using treatments in the future.

Design

Ideally a Pond will have 3 levels; marshy/beach, shallow, and deep.  The marshy/beach level would ideally go around the whole circumference and is just in case any animals fall into the pond they are able to climb out, this is also important if you intend to have your pond as a wildlife pond.  The shallow level, is easily achieved by leaving a shelf when digging the pond out.  As has already been discussed the deep level is important to allow fish to survive the winter months.  The final consideration is the shape of your pond, there is the theory that fish prefer a rounded pond to a square one, although the supporting evidence is very sketchy, a rounded uncomplicated shape that allows a natural water flow does prevent areas of the pond becoming stagnant.

Which Liner?

The last thing to do at this stage is to work out what type of liner and what size you require.  We do 4 different types of Pond Liners:

Flexi Liner (L.D.P.E  / Low Density Polyethylene) is the most popular liner we sell.  It’s only 0.35mm thick which makes it lightweight and easier to manoeuvre and install. It’s also more resistant to tears because of 3-ply weave which is used to manufacture it.  It is coated with a durable laminate on both sides which is Rot and UV resistant.

PVC Liner is a heavier liner which is 0.5mm thick, they are also more malleable than the Flexiliner, but do not fold quite as well.

Synthetic Rubber (EPDM / Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) is 0.75mm thick, which makes itthe thickest liner and as a result more resistant to punctures.  Being rubber based it is more malleable and stretchy.  It is naturally not affected by UV light, temperature or age and Does not shrink, lose weight or become brittle.

Butyl Natural Rubber is again 0.75mm thick, it is the more traditional material for pond liners with very similar properties to an EPDM liner.

Size?

To work out the size you simply need to know the plan dimensions of maximum width, length, and depth, this can be simply worked out by making a quick sketch of your pond see pictures below

With those measurements you us the formula below to work out the dimensions of the liner required.  This formula works in a 50cm overlap on each side.  A simpler way is to use our Pond Calculator, which will also work out the size in litres for you.

Liner length = max length + (2 x max depth) + 1 (for overlap)
Liner width = max width + (2 x max depth) + 1 (for overlap)

Next week, we will look at how to dig and shape the hole, and fit the liner.  All the products you need can be found at www.pondkeeper.co.uk and so long as orders are placed before 1pm on a Thursday you can have all the equipment ready for the weekend.  Please also follow Pondkeeperuk on Twitter and Pondkeeper.co.uk - Armstrong Direct Ltd on Facebook to be kept up to date with all the latest news and offers from the world of Pondkeeper.co.uk