Digging my first pond in a meadow

[pondesamoreux]

Hi all,

I plan on building a pond in a field beside my house. At the same time, I will be sewing seeds for a wildflower area.

My questions are as follows.

1. Is it bad to have a wildflower meadow area near a pond? Will it obscure the pond from wildlife which might otherwise approach? How should they relate to each other – should I surround the pond with wildflowers or is it better for them to be totally away from each other in the field, for wildlife purposes.
2. What time of year is best to dig a pond, or does it matter?
3. Is it reasonable for me, a youngish healthy man to be able to dig a small to medium sized pond myself, having not done it before (max depth 3 feet in one small area).

 

[JRS]

Welcome to the forum! I don't think the wildflower area next to the pond would be a problem unless they would block your view. You might get a bit more debris in the water as the seasons change. It is good to have at least one area to easily access the pond for maintenance though. Most critters will find the pond without a problem even if unseen.

As long as the ground can be worked it does not matter when you dig, barring excessive rain and such. Be mindful of topography, you generally want to avoid surrounding run off flowing into the pond, edges can be raised if needed.

Besides depth, what are your other proposed dimensions? As long as you have the time and suitable physical condition you can dig by hand. Especially if there are no large rocks to deal with. I lost a bit of weight building my pond, good exercise.

Are you planning a liner and pump? Fish?

 

[pondesamoreux]

Thanks for the response. I will make sure the flowers dont block my view! The gate to the field is on the southside so I plan to leave that area free of wildflowers for access.

The field is relatively flat but there is a bit of a decline just after the point of entry. From what you are saying that seems to be an area that is best to be avoided?

I haven't measured exactly but I think about the size and depth of this pond, maybe a little bigger and slightly deeper as I have lots of space:

I was also planning on doing the same as he did, with the 2 different types of liners as he does here:

(its basically a fleece first, then the liner, then the fleece again). Any thoughts on this?

I had not thought of putting any fish in – would you recommend?

 

[j.w]

@pondesamoreux

 

[GBBUDD]

Hi all,

I plan on building a pond in a field beside my house. At the same time, I will be sewing seeds for a wildflower area.

My questions are as follows.

1. Is it bad to have a wildflower meadow area near a pond? Will it obscure the pond from wildlife which might otherwise approach? How should they relate to each other – should I surround the pond with wildflowers or is it better for them to be totally away from each other in the field, for wildlife purposes.
2. What time of year is best to dig a pond, or does it matter?
3. Is it reasonable for me, a youngish healthy man to be able to dig a small to medium sized pond myself, having not done it before (max depth 3 feet in one small area).

I have seen some folks have some ideas on how to build a pond but in reality the only thing he's going to grow is lots and lots of algae.
And then there is the skeeters well imo that is the perfect skeeter breeder.

Oz pond is similar to what your looking at doing but will give you a much better design for a successful and rewarding pond.

There's an expression for ponders big bigger biggest . once you build one that's not a recipe for skeeters and algae then you'll build a second that's larger and down the road the largest which so long as it's not enormous can be the easiest of the three to maintain.

i'd search youtube some more and take a look at other options. when you have a few fish you don't need soil that will also promote algae.

A COUPLE OTHER NAMES ARE ATLANTIS WATER GARDENS. modern design aquascaping , aquascapes and team aquascapes .

 

[Lisak1]

Digging a pond that's three feet deep by hand will result in two things:

1. A very tired digger
2. A very large quantity of dirt to get rid of

Young, healthy - sure, you can do it. But it will likely take many days and like I said, many loads of dirt to dispose of. To give you some perspective, our pond is approximately 13x17 (modest size) and the deepest point is just over three feet. We paid to have three dump truck loads of dirt removed from our property. It's a lot more dirt than you can even imagine.

Good luck to you! Take lots of pictures and share - we love to see ponds come to life!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[pondesamoreux]

I have seen some folks have some ideas on how to build a pond but in reality the only thing he's going to grow is lots and lots of algae.
And then there is the skeeters well imo that is the perfect skeeter breeder.

Oz pond is similar to what your looking at doing but will give you a much better design for a successful and rewarding pond.

There's an expression for ponders big bigger biggest . once you build one that's not a recipe for skeeters and algae then you'll build a second that's larger and down the road the largest which so long as it's not enormous can be the easiest of the three to maintain.

i'd search youtube some more and take a look at other options. when you have a few fish you don't need soil that will also promote algae.

A COUPLE OTHER NAMES ARE ATLANTIS WATER GARDENS. modern design aquascaping , aquascapes and team aquascapes .

thanks for these. checked out ozponds and he is amazing but i think my pond will be more wildlife style. i think mosquitos arent an issue as im in ireland

 

[pondesamoreux]

Digging a pond that's three feet deep by hand will result in two things:

1. A very tired digger
2. A very large quantity of dirt to get rid of

Young, healthy - sure, you can do it. But it will likely take many days and like I said, many loads of dirt to dispose of. To give you some perspective, our pond is approximately 13x17 (modest size) and the deepest point is just over three feet. We paid to have three dump truck loads of dirt removed from our property. It's a lot more dirt than you can even imagine.

Good luck to you! Take lots of pictures and share - we love to see ponds come to life!

thanks, although i plan to make it maybe 2.5 feet deep its only going to be about 8x6 feet in length/width

 

[bagsmom]

I love watching Joel! He seems like such a nice person!
I did the "sandwich method" with my liner. Here, we don't really have the fleece-y stuff -- it is geotextile fabric, or underlayment.
I did a layer of thick underlayment, then my 45 mil EPDM liner, then another layer of underlayment.

 

[GBBUDD]

I would avoid white underlayment. as it will wave at yea when a spot gets exposed . yes bio film will help but if you can help it find black.

 

[cas]

As long as you don't run into a lot of rock (or tree roots), you should have no problem digging that size of pond by hand. You can use the dirt you remove to create slight berms to direct waterflow or build up the edge of the pond. Be sure to keep the top layer of dirt to place on top.

 

[Lisak1]

2.5 feet deep its only going to be about 8x6 feet in length/width

Just ran the calculator - that's 120 cubic feet of soil - roughly 4 cubic yards. A cubic yard weighs somewhere between 2000 and 2700 lbs. I have a garden cart that holds about 6 cu feet of soil. So roughly 20 carts full, if my math is right.

Sounds doable! But again - do you have a place to dump it or use it? Someone mentioned using it for a waterfall, which is the standard, but I think you are planning no waterfall. In a meadow, you may be able to just spread it out and not worry about it, if you have enough room.

Just some things to think about. It was one of the more surprising things that I learned when we built our pond - it's A LOT of dirt!

 

[bagsmom]

I think pondesamoreux is planning to do a wildlife pond in the style of Joel Ashton. His show Wild Your Garden is very fun to watch. He has a very different style of doing ponds and it must work well in the UK where they don't have to worry about mosquitos. He saves the topsoil for planting around the outside of the pond, but replaces the nutrient-poor subsoil in the pond as a planting medium. It is a very different philosophy from what we are used to but seems to work!

 

[Lisak1]

Interesting. Off to watch the videos now!