Fresh pond build in upstate ny

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A little deeper, a little bigger, always a lot more money and mistakes LOL. Seems that we can't stop expanding, coming up with new ideas, or something that catches our eye to add to this project. My gf is 100% on board now and was trying to convince me to make it just a little bit bigger hahaha. This has become quite the family past time, and it has been fun!

I wanted to give an update on the project so far in 2025. A small accident occurred over winter which resulted in a couple small holes in the liner, sadly all the goldfish died. I had to drain the last bit of the pond and patch the liner (shoutout to BTL liners for helping with the seam tape). We expanded the footprint of the pond by a foot or two and increased the shelve size accommodate a more natural look for the edges. With the liner up i dug things a bit deeper with a larger deep section roughly 3.5' deep by 6' long. We added a bunch of rocks around the edges, mostly 6-12" and some smaller pea gravel around the beach area. I was lucky to find someone local who would sell some of the larger rocks at a very reasonable price and added those throughout.

All the stonework was done this weekend, so the water is still a bit cloudy from that hoping it continues to settle over next few days. Also the pond level will be up about 3-5" we are expecting alot of rain this week, so it is slightly lower than its final form. My goal was to get this area to be presentable before summer. Let me know your thoughts so far.

In the next few weeks, the plan is to add another half to full yard 6-12" rocks to finish covering the liner. I'm going to finish the landscaping around the outside of the pond, planting grass where needed, adding in a flower garden around the backside where the tree is and just generally trying to clean the area up after all the digging and upheaval last year. I'm also working on putting some plants in the bog and dialing in the waterfall, so really looking forward to those projects.

As always, I appreciate feedback and support. I will post some more updates once I have some more progress.

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If you really want feedback, I will offer you this - you have far too many small rocks around your pond. It will be difficult if not impossible to walk up to your pond on that bed of rocks. Your edge work should allow you to stand directly over the pond and peer in to say "hello fish!" I know you have the beachy area at the end but I guarantee you will want to be able to walk the whole circumference without twisting an ankle. Not to mention stand at the edge without fear of rocks tumbling off the edge into the pond. And all those rocks will start to collect debris, which becomes difficult to clean and eventually will start to grow those wild plants known as "weeds".

Larger boulders, some areas of small rocks, but way less of them, adding in some natural wood pieces, lots of plants and ground cover, etc will all help make your pond more enjoyable and natural looking. You may even consider a few spots with some flat steppers as edging.

Offered in the spirit of one pond lover helping another...
 
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If you really want feedback, I will offer you this - you have far too many small rocks around your pond. It will be difficult if not impossible to walk up to your pond on that bed of rocks. Your edge work should allow you to stand directly over the pond and peer in to say "hello fish!" I know you have the beachy area at the end but I guarantee you will want to be able to walk the whole circumference without twisting an ankle. Not to mention stand at the edge without fear of rocks tumbling off the edge into the pond. And all those rocks will start to collect debris, which becomes difficult to clean and eventually will start to grow those wild plants known as "weeds".

Larger boulders, some areas of small rocks, but way less of them, adding in some natural wood pieces, lots of plants and ground cover, etc will all help make your pond more enjoyable and natural looking. You may even consider a few spots with some flat steppers as edging.

Offered in the spirit of one pond lover helping another...
That is really good feedback. i really do appreciate it. After reading your comment i see exactly what you mean and i have some thought on what i can do. tbh I wanted to move a bunch of these rocks again any way :)
 
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I have to agree on the larger rocks being more stable and far less troublesome. One trick i have been using it to take waterfall spray foam but using the pro gun they are luke 19 bucks. Using the foam like mortar spray it between the rocks but once you figure any spot has too much and pushes out let it do so and WHEN ITS DRY trim it back a multi tool with just a scraper blade no teeth does the job
 
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