There had been a pond, but it had leaked, and the old liner had cracked – it was more of a depression than a pond. The garden was slightly overwhelming upon arrival, as it was very overgrown – but very beautiful all the same. Joe and I got to work; he started off by trimming back the hedge and creating some space, and I started digging up plants – some to keep and some to remove.
I began by removing large rocks and pebbles from the pond area, and put them to one side. I then dug or pulled up annual weeds that were growing in and around the pond, as well as cutting away the old pond liner. Once Joe had finished trimming the hedge, he came to help me remove the deepest part of the liner which was heavy with soil and decaying matter.
He used a breaker bar to pierce the liner in a few places to help the remnants of the water drain away. We then began digging out the size of the pond, using what was left of the original pond as a guide – We elaborated on one of the shelves that was partially still there, but also dug down to a deeper level in the middle.
We lifted the large flagstone to the left of the pond, and relaid it as it was wonky and uneven upon our arrival. This will act as a good platform for our customer to view the pond. We were lucky with the weather, which was dry, still and sunny – this made this project much easier to complete. We dug over and raked the soil in the border, grading the soil, as it had previously been a large mound.
We kept all of the soil within the garden, and didn’t take anything out of the house, which also made this job quicker and easier. Once we had landscaped the soil and were happy with the size, shelves and level of the pond we began to lay the underlay and HDPE (High Density Polyethelene) pond liner.
We kept the liner in place by using rocks and pieces of slabs that were in the garden. We built around it, adding rocks at different levels inside the pond and on the outer edge, creating places for animals, birds and creepy crawlies to enter the pond.
On the widest part of pond shelf near to the large flagstone platform, we added the pebbles to create a beach. Creating these different areas with varying sizes and materials offers a variety of habitats for creatures. We replanted some Cyclamen clumps around the edge of the pond, along with a Sedum Stonecrop/Hylotelephium and other perennials in the surrounding border.
Joe cleared up the pathway and did a final wash down of the paving, stones and added some more water. It was a great project to work on during a lovely autumnal day, and we are looking forward to returning next year to see how it develops. Our customer will be adding a few pond plants, such as a floating, oxygenating bunch, an Iris and a small water lily.
