PLANNING A POND

1. choose a spot on your property that does NOT receive a lot of falling leaves in the autumn. It can be a real hassle to remove piles of leaves, twigs and other tree or plant detritus from the future pond on a several-times-a-day basis.

2. chose the construction method best suited for your purposes. Rubber or plastic sheeting placed over an excavation, pre-formed plastic pools of various shapes and sizes, or do it the old fashioned way, construct a reinforced concrete pond to your own specifications. I opted for the latter, since I could foresee punctures for whatever reason in the first two possibilities. Thus my observations on construction will be limited to making one yourself. It is a job, BUT great fun-- and good exercise!

IF you are lucky enough to already have a relatively unused in ground swimming pool, complete with filtration system, your initial work is already done and you can skip to the next chapter!

3. PLAN on what you want to accomplish. The following should be taken into account :

PLACEMENT - away from sources of falling plant material

DEPTH - one yard (36") below surface as a minimal DEEP end

SIZE / VOLUME - would depend on your available space

SLOPE - toward the deep end; it helps to collect fish waste and other material toward the pump / filter intake - drain

PUMP / FILTER INTAKE / DRAIN - preferably in a depression at the deepest part

PUMP / FILTER OUTFLOW - may be a simple pipe on one end of the pond, built into the pond wall, or an outside pond connection to a fountain or other ornamental water inflow device

HEIGHT ABOVE GROUND - may be flush with ground level for a more "natural" appearance or have a raised border at about a comfortable sitting height so that you can feed and watch your Koi while resting at the edge of your pond

DISPOSAL AREA FOR EXCAVATED SOIL - there may be low areas on your property that could use some fill, or you may wish to form raised areas around the future pond for Iris, low growing plants such as Phylox, Geraniums or some of those tall "exotic" grass varieties.

M A T E R I A L S

Shovel, wheelbarrow to move excavated material, a good back (!), concrete mix, steel wire reinforcing grids, wood planks / panels as forms for pouring the concrete, two-by-fours as supports, PVC tubing for the underground drain and intake to filter, PVC joint cement, rubber compound to coat the finished concrete pond surface, and whatever tools or implements / hardware which might be needed to work with any of the above : mixing, cutting to size, fastening, etc.

Are you ready to begin?