Designing and Planning for Building Garden Ponds

A pond adds tranquilness and elegance to your garden. Building a garden pond results a sense of joy and achievement. Here are a the basic steps for design and planning a garden pond project.

Step #1 Pond Type
The first thing you want to do when it comes to your garden pond is decide exactly what it is you want. Are you more interested in aquatic plants or fish? Or do you want a mixture of both? Are you going to add a bridge, beach or waterfall? How about a stream? There are so many different things you can add to your pond that you must make a decision up front so your pond will turn out exactly as you want it to.

Step #2 Location
Now that you know what kind of garden pond you want then you need to decide where you want to place it in your yard. Garden ponds should be placed in a location where you can see it on a daily basis and enjoy it. Also, depending on the size of your garden pond you will want to place it in different locations. Make sure rain runoff won’t affect the pond and that it is not planted overly close to trees or any plant that will allow leaves to fall into your garden pond.

Step #3 Pond Size
Another important aspect is your pond’s size. Think about where the pond will be located and what type of weather you have. The deeper your pond the less likely it will freeze during cold winter months and the bigger the pond the more beautiful it will be with lilies and other plants.

Step #4 Dig the Pond
Now that you know where your pond will go then you need to start digging it. You want to dig a shelf around the perimeter and then you want to dig the rest of the pond on a slope so that it will be designed properly.

Step #5 Line the Pond
Use a pond underlayment to line the pond and make sure you tape any pieces together so that when you place the liner it will stay in place.

Step #6 Place the Liner
Now you need to place the liner and do your best to avoid any wrinkles. You will have some and that’s ok because they will straighten out once you add the water.

Now that you have the water in the pond you are ready to start adding your fish, plants, stones, and the like. Enjoy your water garden!