Landscaping your garden fish pond on uneven ground
Landscaping ponds on uneven ground is tricky ... follow the landscaping ponds techniques advocated by Peter J May
My thanks go to Peter J May for permission to use his techniques, explanations and pictures in this section. Peter is a world-class water gardener and landscaper as well as author of numerous books and articles about water gardening. He is well known as The Perfect Pond Detective.
The Peg It Approach ... notice the pegs in the picture above
For ponds or pools on uneven ground, peg it out before you make the final about where and how big it will be.
Tools required for this stage-
3metre straight edge. This could be a good piece of timber (perhaps 2inches by 1inch) that has an un-curved, unwavering edge to it as you look along the edge from one end to the other.
A lump hammer or heavy hammer.
As long a spirit level as you can find. A 'Dumpy' builders level can be hired from a tool hire merchant. These need two people to operate them, but they help you find levels accurately and are indispensable for large pool projects. Levels that shoot out a laser spot to a level some yards away are a useful new invention for 'the one and his dog' pool constructor.
Also several stout pegs, some longer than the depth of the pool, others just longer than the depth of the marginal shelf.
Take several strong 5cm (2ins) square pegs. To mark out the perimeter of the pool area they may not need to be more than 30cm long since they are just going down to the marginal shelf level. But if the ground drops a way sharply then those marking the low edge will need to be a few centimetres deeper than the proposed depth of the pool (between 60cm and 1mtr - 2ft to roughly 3ft).
Mark the short pegs with an indelible line at 23cm (9ins). This mark will be an indicator to you when you have dug down to the marginal shelf level. Mark the long pegs with an indelible line near the bottom of the peg that will indicate the final depth of your excavation (adding 5cm (2ins) for a layer of sand to the mean pool depth that will cushion the liner) e.g. for a pool 60cm deep (2ft) add 5cm (2ins), the total depth excavated 65cm (26ins).If you are keen enough or rich enough to contemplate a concrete lined pool add on an extra 15cm in every direction.
If the pool is going to be created some way from the house, paint the tops of the pegs with something to make them easily visible so that you can see the pool shape from the house.
Choose one of the long pegs as a datum peg for the pool water level and drive it into what you consider to be the centre of the pool to roughly the water level you foresee. This can be gauged to begin with as being the thickness of the pool edging stone for that side, below the average contour of the ground.
The top of this peg will mark the level to which you drive in all the other pegs.Keep them less than 2.5 metres apart. Save the longer ones for gauging the depth of the excavation later if you can mark the perimeter with shorter ones, but in steeply sloping situations you may need the long ones to mark the perimeter on the low side. Keep them all roughly 15cm (6ins) inside the line of your proposed perimeter.
If there is turf roughly undulating around the site it may be necessary to remove some of it in the pool area to get a clearer view of the lie of the land. Maybe even a few inches of soil too.
I expect you are beginning to wonder why you just dont launch into it straight off, having dedicated so much effort so far. Well at least you haven't dedicated any hard earned cash nor made a decision you cannot reverse. Having got this far, now you can look and firmly decide. You can gauge the size precisely and the amount of engineering involved and the amount of expense effort and hard landscaping required to cover up that engineering.
If the terrain of the garden is sloping away from the main viewpoint or if you are planning a raised water feature, formal or informal, hammer in several pegs around the extremities of the shape level with each other and indicating the final proposed water level. This will give you some idea as to how level the site is, how much water you will see and how much building up is required. If it is a matter of all digging in and down, then conduct one or two exploratory excavations to check the going, possible bedrock and to provide peace of mind in respect to drains and power conduits.
Flexible Liner Ponds Variations .. Useful when the ground is level.
EPDM rubber is probably the best material for a garden fish pond
Take a sturdy peg longer than the depth required for your pond. Mark the depth on the peg (ie two lines indicating depth and a third line indicating distance from level ground to the water surface) and drive it into the ground to the expected level ... the top line will now be at ground level Excavate to the level marked on the peg. This is your datum peg, so ensure it remains undisturbed.
Using your datum peg level, cut a V shaped trench, around the inside of the proposed shape of the pool. The inside edge of this V needs to be no more than 5cm below the level of the datum peg. The depth of the V needs to be just over 25cm deep. The outside edge has to be consistently above that level and needs to slope gently away from the pool take a look at the edge in the picture following.
The excavation should gently slope down at 30 from the V to the required depth.
Consolidate the hole by compacting and remove sharp stones. Line with soft sand and a protective underlay material.
Open out the liner in the hole and fold into place. Collect as many of the creases up together as possible into one fold. Dont let the water stretch it into place. Life just isnt that simple.
The V can be filled with soil and planted. It can also work as sort of hod for pebbles creating a beach effect or it can contain the concrete footing for an upright timber edging.
more about ponds on uneven ground
This web page is an extract from Tony Roocroft's "The Complete Pond Solver" ... you can read more about it at http://www.really-useful-books.com ... when you buy the book you get 12 Excel pond calculators free as well as "Water Lilies and Pond Aquatics" ebook also freeInteresting articles
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