building a pond in gravel/sandy soil

[chiroken]

Hello everyone, first time poster.

We are looking to build a pond with above grade waterfall and the soil is quite gravelly and sandy. I'm not sure how I will be able to shape the side walls without everything just caving in all the time. What options to I have other than going to concrete construction? I was planning on using a pond liner.

I've seen photos of ponds using 2x12 boards to shape the interior but what happens when they rot in a few years? Also is fairly limiting to straight lines (my wife loves "curves" to everything!).

Thanks

 

[sissy]

retaining wall block pond,Mine is above and below ground .I have a concrete wall block 1 layer up inside the retaining wall block that the liner sits on .The concrete block is just filled with dirt and rebar is pounded in the center of each block .But you could just use retaining wall block and put a cap stone over the liner .Last pic you can see liner peeking out between block in my water fall .I put liner around my filter tanks and that what that is .

 

[slakker]

I'm in the lower mainland and had similar challenge of building the form to use a liner. My solution was to use sand bags... I went to burnaby bag and burlap and got 150 sand bags for $30 and filled it with sand and used it to retain the loose soil. In your case, you may be able to use the soil you're evacuating to fill the bags.

 

[chiroken]

Hey, great idea? Were the bags actually burlap? Wondering the material and how quickly it would degrade. How many years ago did you build the pond and has there been any caving in or anything? Any ideas where bags like that could be found other than a bag store? lol, Not huge here in the Comox Valley, Nanaimo isn't too far away. We've got a couple of feed stores that may carry something like that. Did you use the bags stacked lengthwise/flat and slightly offset to create a sloped side? What about a ledge for shallow pots to sit on? Also curious how much space 150 bags did? Approximate pond size and depth? Thanks!

I'm in the lower mainland and had similar challenge of building the form to use a liner. My solution was to use sand bags... I went to burnaby bag and burlap and got 150 sand bags for $30 and filled it with sand and used it to retain the loose soil. In your case, you may be able to use the soil you're evacuating to fill the bags.

 

[slakker]

This is the pond I built, it's just this year so still to be tested for the first winter (that's the caveat emptor)

But for the bags, I used poly as jute would biodegrade. I stacked the bags upright and they backfilled them with the loose gravel/soil. It holds the form very well and you can arrange them in any shape. They sell a few different size bags, some are longer rectangular shaped, but I chose the stubbier rectangular ones as it has a wider mouth and easier to fill. The 150 bags allowed me to build 2 ponds totalling about 1000-1200 US Gallons. Both ponds are about 3.5 to 4 feet deep. Instead of building ledges, I kept steep sides (anti-racoon defence), but instead used large thin flag-stones to build stands in the pond for the lilies/plants (the second picture below shows this). They also double are fish "tunnels" to hide from kingfishers and herons.

Here's a link to the pond post...
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/top...rs-of-dreaming-and-2-seasons-of-construction/

 

[sissy]

Indoor pond on concrete slab floor made of old hardened concrete filled bags and sand bags and liner just laid on top of it all

 

[sissy]

the guy does landscaping and has a huge metal building and now does ponds

 

[gardengimp]

I never fail to be amazed at what you can find for sale on amazon. Sand bags.

 

[sissy]

for sure and this guy was ready to go dump the hardened concrete bags about 15 of them and dump the sand bags out .Be great idea to build up the sides of any pond .That was cheap for those bags too .

 

[chiroken]

Of course, should of thought of online!

I never fail to be amazed at what you can find for sale on amazon. Sand bags.

 

[slakker]

The other benefit I thought for sand bags is drainage... I'm suspecting the drainage around the pond through sandbag, will be pretty good.

 

[adavisus]

When sand is damp its easy to carve and shape how you like, when you go round and stamp it down it compresses well

I've been tempted to sprinkle cement onto the final pond shape just to maintain the shape but it never really appeared to be a necessity. Once you dig down a few inches the sand is hard compressed and becomes very firm...

You can get a reasonable steep side, carving sand, stamping it into position. Old carpet might be useful to underlay the liner if there's sharp grit or stone about

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[cr8tivguy]

I used sand bags to build my bog. I also used some to raise one side of my pond. They worked great! And you can get a nice curve to your design.

 

[Mmathis]

I'm in the lower mainland and had similar challenge of building the form to use a liner. My solution was to use sand bags... I went to burnaby bag and burlap and got 150 sand bags for $30 and filled it with sand and used it to retain the loose soil. In your case, you may be able to use the soil you're evacuating to fill the bags.

What are the sand bags [well, sandbags, of course.....] called that you got? Like, if I were to call someone and ask for something like that......? You said they were a poly material. Where would I find this in the US?

Our pond is just at a year old. We're trying to get rid of the remainder of the "dirt pile" to make room for a bog. Have noticed a fair amount of packing & settling of the berm surrounding the pond, and want to use some of the dirt for that. But I do like the idea of containing it -- less likely to squish out & flatten.

 

[slakker]

http://www.burnabybag.ca/polybags.html

This is what I used... A polypropylene bag... I think any poly bag with similar dimensions would work, but these are made cheap and with a tie string.

I think Louisiana or states/areas with flooding, you can call local landscape places or maybe even city works yards to ask if they have any. I called 4 lanscape places before one pointed me to this place.