Did you dig it?

[kelkat]

I have several boulders that make a natural hole, but could I concrete it in to make the hole a pond? Beats digging my own.

 

[koiguy1969]

dug mine by hand also, was in a rush the first time, and didnt go deep as i should have,redug it deeper and wider. but i wish i would have just done it the first time. turns out i could only go two feet deep any way. my pond is over our utilities trench. and a concrete truck was emptied into it, hurray for the builder. miss dig said i had over 3 feet, to dig in. i hit concrete at 26 inches.

 

[mister2driver]

Digging up my 1st pond. All shovel!!! There are 2 large tree stumps I need to get out and 2 smaller trees that needs to go also. I've been getting a little and I mean little help from the bro-in-law, (he's kinda slow, mentally) since he's staying with us for free. No real plans just diggin up the area 1st then deciding what's next.

 

[allen00se]

Well, I am new to the site since I am beginning construction as of yesterday...and I am digging my own hole, should end up about 15-20ft x 10-12ft if all goes well.

 

[koiguy1969]

Goodluck And Happy Ponding
Mark

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the Forum. Take pictures and post them, you may have to wait till you have 10 posts to do it. That helps us help you when you have questions. It also helps others who want to dig one but don't know how to start.

 

[allen00se]

Thanks, I will try and get out to get some pictures before the real digging commences, it has been raining the last two days so the ground should be nice and soft by the weekend. I am going to have to get creative with my filter/pump/waterfall system due to the fact that it will all be buried for aesthetic purposes, but I do have alot of experience in making it up as I go (although its been mainly in saltwater aquariums).

 

[allen00se]

didnt want to hijack this thread so I started my own
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/my-diy-pond-t3045.html

 

[DrDave]

Get an adaptor that allows you to screw your hose to a 1/2" steel pipe that is about 4' long. Put a ball valve in the line so you can shut it off. This will allow you to blast your way around the roots to make removing the stump easier.
I have used this method for over 40 years, it makes a hard job easy.

 

[ash_91]

I finished digging and vastly extending my pond yesterday, its about 11 feet long by 5/6 feet wide and between 2 and 3 feet deep.

Dug the vast bulk of it in an afternoon so was pleased with that, I was digging through some kind of clay after the 1st foot or so but that made life easier as i could get big chunks up at once!

Setting up my filter system now!

 

[Stouty109]

nice work dr dave look real cool i like the bridge too. y did u cement the border for support? I dug mine by hand my and daughter she was 2 and a half she had a little shovel and a wheell barrow she did good.

 

[DrDave]

I poured a curb around it with concrete.

 

[kirscp]

Dug our rebuild by hand. That is only about 1/2 way done. Took a couple of weeks.

And no I didn't use the pink and orange shovels. lol

 

[aviator79]

So I am digging one now on a side hill. I just finished building a wall in the back yard. There was one rock that was near the bottom of the wall that I wanted to get out and as I dug around it I realized the rock was pretty big. To get it out I had to get another out and then I saw that I could get another and another and somewhere along the line I decided to build a pond into solid rock. Been using my air hammer with a chisel bit, crow bar and 3’ heavy pry bar, shovel and hands. Some of the rocks I have been pulling out weight 400 or so pounds as this is CT. Many are small 10-20lb and the bulk is chunk that I just break up and shovel out. A few I have had to use a hydraulic press to get out, which I got at harbor freight. Basically it either has to be a 2 teir pond with a smaller pond up top (2’W x 2.5’L x 2’D) with a ~1’ tall waterfall going into it and then the water spilling over it into a larger pond below (8’W x 5.5’L x 3’D). Most of the lower part is only like 1’ deep except where the upper pond would spill over is a deep 3’ V that goes along the width. I had planned to make it 1 pond, but at the bottom I would have to use the rocks I pulled out to make up for the height that the ‘upper pond water lever would be.
Nothing is planned yet, and I will make another post to figure all that out with some pics.
Here are some pics of the wall. Ignore some other the other useless ones, as I don’t really even know what is in there sense my GF set it all up and I cant view that site from work.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZNHDlo5bM2TmQ

 

[koiguy1969]

kirscp... looks like some nice soil there... is the pond gonna be as high as the lumber there?