Discovering the Difference
Between a Water Garden & a Hole in the Ground

By Mark Springer
Chief Lavaletteer

I have been fascinated by water since I was a kid. We had a farm pond that had every imaginable creature living in it. Bass, bluegill, catfish, water snakes, snapping turtles, muskrats and huge bullfrogs all called this water hole home. The vegetation in the pond wasn't remarkable other than cattails and the slime called algae that we used to throw at each other in heated battles. It was amazing to me that all of these things could live together in this wonderful balanced system. I also spent a lot of time in Twelve Pole Creek wading, swimming, fishing. So what if that creek had raw sewage flowing into it. We were kids and we were having fun.

After I got all grown up and started selling plants and landscaping, I discovered that there were companies that specialized in water gardens. I decided to install one at the garden center just as a display with a few plants and fish. Customers saw it and began to ask how they could have one in their back yard. Hmmm. Maybe there was some potential here. So after many years of designing and installing water gardens for clients through the years, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to do it. I have also advised many people on how to build their own pond and how to maintain them. This was fun. It was a whole new aspect to plants and landscaping. It became a hobby for some people.

A few years ago my family and I moved into a new house (old house, but new to us). My old house really didn't have a suitable location for a water garden, so I had a good excuse for not building one there. The new house had a perfect spot for one, so now was the time and this was the place.

The chosen spot was semi shade, slight slope, close to the deck and house, and plenty of room around it for planting. As luck would have it, my nephews were visiting and needed a project to keep them occupied, so they were enlisted to dig out the rough shape. I decided on a kidney shape about 9 feet by 4 feet by 2 feet deep. I decided to make a broad shelf for planting bog plants about 2 feet wide by 5 feet long and 8 inches deep.

One thing I have learned over the years is that most people put in a small pond and wish they had put in a bigger one to accommodate more plants and fish. Think big. A big water garden is actually easier to maintain than a little one.
Digging a hole this size requires some time and energy and produces an amazing amount of dirt. What do you do with it? Save it. You'll be able to use it to mound up around the pond and use for landscaping around the perimeter of the pond.

After the rough shape has been dug, you need to begin to fine tune the shape and level of the pond. This step is critical because the flexible liner will conform exactly to the hole you have dug. If your hole is a little low on one end, it will be terribly obvious when you finish filling the pond.

The side walls of the pond should be fairly steep, about 20 degrees from vertical. The final level of the pond should be slightly above the surrounding grade so that no runoff goes into the pond. If this isn't practical because of the slope, you can make a small retaining wall to accommodate the slope with rocks. This is the time to go slow, double check the size and the level and make sure everything is right before you go on.

Now it's time to put in the liner. Some people say you need to put down a pad or under liner to protect the liner. I didn't use one and never have. If your soil has a lot of sharp rocks in it, maybe. If you use a quality liner made from EPDM 45 mil thick, you should never have a problem. Remember that the liner has to be big enough to conform to the hole and still have about a foot left over to overlap the ground all around the edges. Lay the liner in and begin filling with water. Stop when it is about 6 inches from being full and make any corrections to the final level. Finish filling and put some nice-sized flat rocks around the edges.

I was fortunate in that there were many rocks already in my yard and they were perfect for this project. I didn't have to buy any or go scavenging along the highway for choice pieces. Most of the rock that you find along the highways is shale and breaks down quickly. Go to a stone yard and buy flat field stone or whatever else looks good to you. Be prepared to pay. Stone isn't cheap and for some water garden projects, this is the most costly item.

This is the end of the construction part, but only the beginning of the whole process. Future articles will explore filtration, plants, fish and so on.

Remember, when building your pond, don't be in a hurry. I built mine over several weeks, a little bit at a time. No pressure, no deadlines. It's more fun that way.