new pond ambition

many thanks for your advice and help at the moment i am trying my best to think about this pond so i have started again with new shape thanks

 

Hi I have managed to dig down 10 inch from top of grass. It seems I have now hit chalk.
The neighbours have said the property was built on Marsh land and compacted chalk on top. So I am not sure what to do at the moment.. I am concerned what would happen if I was to dig down more.
Thanks for the help

 

Hi,

No experience of such Chalk, but assume its quiet hard and not practical to dig out ?

If so that kinda puts an end to a sunked pond.

So, unless you have any other ideas, seems a raised pond the only way.

Just a case of finding one that avoids the wet wood problems you had with the last one, though fountain spray and waterfalls are likely to splash onto any nearby wood.

There are a few dedicated Pond forums around, perhaps look for ideas and advice there on how to treat any wood against such algea growth etc.?

Looks a nice pond kit to us - but so many to choose from, liners or preformed, diy or ready made ...
Wooden Raised Bed Pond Kits - Harrod Horticultural (UK)

 

Many thanks for your reply. We'll I did try to dig one out.
Anyway I filled it all back in today.
With ponds in mind I saw this site
Raised Flower Beds, Garden Retaining Walls, Planters, Ponds | WoodBlocX
They are made to messure bits and pieces for the garden.
Some one said about sleepers so I had a look the way you have to lay them.
I think the problem lays with fish
As my wife would like fish but advice is a min of 2 foot but on www you see ponds made out of sleepers with fish but they don't look 2 foot high. And I would like the pump under water with a water blade feature.
This is a picture of our relitves pond
But no fish just frogs

 

Those BlocX seem a very high price, but whatever wood you use, probably worth cladding the top surfaces of any such structure with some wood effect uPVC so you have a wipe clean rot proof surface ?
175mm UPVC Capping Boards | Eurocell

We have had fish and frogs in the same pond, just that many of the tadpoles and smaller creatures will eaten by the fish, unless you net off a small area for them.

We are up north and have never seen any ice on our pond more than 1" thick for countless years, so depth not such an issue though as you both have health problems something at a height you can more easily access would seem better.

Really down to you what type to go for ...

 

Many thanks for your reply. With ponds that are prebuilt I would have thought that the protection for the wood would be there as they are treated. The pond we had before was 6 x 4 foot x 16 inch high with out cascade system. Then we had problems with baskets / pots etc for plants on shelves
With depth of a pond I have asked so many questions about ponds and advise was for even gold fish we would need a pond at 2 foot or deeper due to very cold weather so I tried to dig one out that did not work out.
I was wondering if I got sleepers for a pond could I dig down so deep to get the 2 foot depth for fish and have sleepers on top of grass.
So eg if you got 4 rows of sleepers at approx 4 inch thick could I dig down 5 inch to get the depth.
Thanks

 

Sorry, but just do not understand what you mean about digging down and using the sleepers? thought it was not possible to dig down because of the Chalk pan ?

Though you have had lots of advice, some conflicting, its so hard to judge what is right for you , your site and your abilities, and we are no pond experts either.

Something to give you a water feature now would be a simple half barrel pond, which would be easy to get set up and running in a week or two, better than nothing, lots of ytubes on setting one up.

 

Thanks for the advice. The pond I dug out was 5 f x 4 f x 10 inch deep with escape route for critters.
The advice before was 2 foot deeper the better due to freezing water it seems that the pond I did do would have been OK even for gold fish but I was taking the advice of 2 foot deep pond.

With the sleepers idea was to put sleepers on top of grass and dig down another 5 inch to get the 2 foot depth from top of sleepers so you have a hole inside the sleepers.

I have looked on YouTube about ponds different types and some use sand instead of underlay before liner goes down. So I asked about sand and advice was no as you can get alot of ants. So how do you know who is giving you the correct information...when you look on sites like you tube

Thanks

 

You weigh up all the different opinions and follow your own instincts.
What every one tells you is their ideas and opinions but you take those ideas and see if any fit with what you intend to do.

At the end of the day it's your pond and you are building it.

 

I see what you mean by using the area you have already dug down to the chalk layer, and then sleepers to raise it up. The base of the pond would be below normal ground level, in the ‘ole, and then the area around it raised up. So for example, a 3 foot deep pond would have the lowest level 1 foot below ground level with sleepers at 2 foot high, and soil filled in behind them. That would be a good compromise, I think. You would be able to sit on the sleepers, and loose many hours (speaking from experience!) staring into the depths of the pond....

My experience - I used sand to line underneath the liner, then a fabric. Well, I had to ‘use’ sand, as that is what my ‘soil’ is!! Because of that, I have noticed no increase in ant numbers. I actually find that I have ants all over the garden, not just localised in the sandy areas?

If you do go down the sleeper + liner route, my only concern would be that you need to ensure that the sleepers are well secured. You wouldn’t want them moving out under the weight of the water, and sodden soil after heavy rain. But strong corner bracing should sort that - I would put them on the outside, rather than the inside, of the corners. Then any pressure would be pushing into the corner bracket, rather than away from it....

Seriously, as with all things, if you ask 10 people for their ideas/opinions, you will end up with 15 different options .

I like the idea of a raised pond, adding extra depth by using the hole you’ve already made. You also have somewhere to put all that soil you’ve dug out!

 

thanks for your reply

i have a idea but i would like to know what sort of bracket you would use for the corners of the sleepers and they would be screwed together using 6 inch plus sleeper screws as well .

if you made a pond out of sleepers and wanted a water fall feature how would you think of doing this due to the water blade

this might sound a bit silly but how tall is a headgehog i am thinking of the escape slope for critters if they fell in and the sleepers so i was thinking of a door way where the escape route slope would be .

the only way again to dispose of soil is to raise the veg planter up again as this is the biggest planter we have ...

 

Please excuse my quick sketch, but I thought it might be helpful, in discussing....


The dash-line represents the current ground level.

A = the dug-down area, to where you have hit chalk
B = the soil removed from area A

Re supporting the sleepers, I’m sure some of the more structural-competent forum members will come up with suggestions. A simple, relatively cheap option, would be concrete re-inforcing rods (not sure what they are called, but about 1” in diameter, with a groved surface?) driven in to the ground, so that their top is below the top of the sleepers (so reducing risk of injury on them). This would also mean that you would not be weakening the sleepers at all, or breaking through the weather-hardened surface....

 

many thanks for your reply and drawing , you have given me a idea with the idea of - b in your drawing i would take the soil completely out to give the pond more space

with the sleeper fixings to the ground i found these on line that are fixed to the sleeper and driven into the ground ..
with fixing rods i am not sure if you have to have a concrete base or not
thanks

 

If you have solid chalk at 12” down, then any rod driven into that would be held as firm as any concrete....!

I’m remembering that your dream is to have a wildlife pond. Bearing that in mind, sloping sides down to a shelf (and gently sloping, at that) is important. Birds cannot bathe in deep water - they need to have their feet on something. You will need a slope for any animals that fall in to get back out again ... Another advantage of sloping sides is that it gives you different water temperatures, at different depths. You don’t need the whole pond to be deep - just a section where the water cannot freeze solid.

Now, where is our hedgehog expert when we need them? @luciusmaximus ?

 

many thanks for your reply with making a pond in general we have looked at this site How to dig an informal wildlife pond with planting shelves and we dug out our pond to those measurements for a small pond .

with sleepers in mind i have looked at possible ways to lay them down and taken some pictures , with left over soil i can put into veg box but it would make it harder for my wife to see to the veg due to the small fence around the pots as seen in the photos ,
with the raised beds i made up where all done by hand as i dont want to loose any fingers using a electric saw
thanks