Water features are popular for landscaping, because they bring a sense of both peace and nature to urban and residential areas. When looking through gardening magazines and books, water elements often look overwhelming and out of reach, but with a few simple tools and supplies, anyone can create an easy, yet stunning garden pond in just a few hours.
First, use a garden hose or a rope to make the outline of your pond. A simple oval or kidney shape will do the job. If your pond is on an area with grass or other vegetation, strip the turf to a depth of 2 inches with a shovel.
Next, dig out the soil in the boundary you created. The hole you create should be about 9 inches deep. Make sure the sides are dug at an angle.
Decide if you want any marginal shelves in your pond. These are important if you plan to add any shallow water plants. Outline the areas that will be shelves with your rope or by sprinkling sand. Make the shelves about 12 inches wide.
Now, avoiding the area you marked as shelves, dig the rest of your pond to a depth of 18 to 24 inches.
Utilize a rake to level the bottom of your hole. You may need to remove rocks and roots to get a completely level surface. Go over the sides with your hands as well, removing rocks and sharp objects and smoothing the surface.
Once the pond has been dug and the bottom and sides leveled, you can add a layer of damp sand. Make it stick to the sides and the bottom at a depth of about 1/2 inch.
Lay a flexible plastic liner, cut to the right size, over the sand. Make sure it covers your entire pond with about 8 to 12 inches of liner as edging.
Use a few heavy stones or bricks to hold the liner edges in place, then fill your pond full with water, leaving a few inches at the top. Once the pond is full, remove the stones or bricks as the water will now hold the liner in place.
At this point, you can now create your edging. A simple way to do this is to lay flat landscaping rocks around the pond, holding down and hiding the liner edging. Mortar and a mortaring trowel can be used to keep the rocks permanently in place.
Finally, cut any extra liner that is showing from under your rocks and fill the pond completely full. You pond is now complete! Beautify it even more by adding plants, flowers, fish, or ornaments.
