Before building a pond, you should put a lot of thought into how big it will be. Size will affect every aspect of your pond building project, from construction time and cost, plant variety, fish choices and maintenance. Build large enough so that you have room to experiment, but not so much that it becomes difficult for you to maintain.
An attractive pond should be scaled to its surroundings. Improperly scaled ponds will look out of place, either disappearing into, or overwhelming your garden. The size of the pond should also suit its purpose. Formal ponds should be smaller, more focused on the details. Informal ponds should be larger, with a natural sprawl of varied wildlife.
Pond Size Matters?
Sizing for Wildlife
Every plant and fish that you are planning to add to your outdoor pond has its own space needs. They should have enough room to grow and multiply, especially if you want a natural-looking pond.
If your pond is too small, it will end up stunting the growth of your pond wildlife, possibly even killing them. On the other hand, an overly large pond that is sparsely stocked will look bare and unattractive.
If you are on a tight budget, you might be frustrated by the amount of time that it takes for you to get fish, pond supplies and other stock items that you might need.
Defining the purpose of your outdoor pond will help you choose the perfect site to start your pond building project. A formal pond or fountain should be placed near the entrance of your house, where it can be admired by visitors. A pond designed for personal viewing works best in your backyard, close to the porch or perhaps in view of picture windows. A pond tucked into a quiet corner of your property could serve as a private retreat.
Planning for the Weather
Exposure to sun and wind are important site criteria. Ponds that receive too much sunlight are vulnerable to algae and increased water evaporation. High temperatures can also harm plants and fish. On the other hand, ponds that do not receive enough light will stunt the growth of pond wildlife. You may have to prune trees and remove any fences and sheds that block the sun. Continue reading Pond Building – Siting Your Pond
A pond plan is a graphical representation of your pond building project. Depending on the scale and complexity of your proposed pond, the pond plan can range from a simple drawing to a thick stack of diagrams. While it is quite possible to skip this part of the process, making a pond plan can yield unexpected benefits; the information you gather during the process can help you identify potential problems, find solutions and even inspire you to improve your pond design.
Making a Pond Plan
The plan acts as a guide for you and the people working with you, and can help you on almost every aspect of building the pond. If your pond is part of an even larger landscape project, a pond plan is essential. It gives directions to your workers and becomes a reference for coordinating construction.
Making the Pond Plan
Having the original site plans of your house is a time-saver, but you can just as easily make your pond plan from scratch. All it takes is a bit of attention, patience, plenty of paper and a good length of measuring tape. Remember that the pond building plans should reflect both the existing features of a pond site and the features to be added. Continue reading Pond Building – Making a Pond Plan
Digging your pond is the first step in transforming your pond buildingideas into a reality. You need to make sure to gather all the necessary tools; shovels, a wheelbarrow, a level, planks, stakes, and materials for marking the outline of your pond. Liners and edging materials should also be kept close at hand in case you need to refer to their measurements, or test how they fit in your excavation.
Grasp a good shovel...
Excavating a hole for a pre-formed liner is relatively straightforward. Outline the shape of the liner according to your pond design, and then dig to the required depth. You don’t need to be too exact in your measurements, as you will back-fill the extra space later on, when you are installing the liner. Make sure to keep a good amount of the soil near the site. Continue reading Digging your Pond
Hey, who said that we should only write about real ponds or how to build them? We would like also to bring you fun stuff that is somehow related to ponds. Talking about fun, we can’t be indifferent to the iPhone fever, not to mention the fact that I’m an iPhone addict myself, so here is a nice application related to ponds that worth taking a look at.
Surprisingly or not, “Koi Pond” is one of the most popular paid applications for the iPhone, and I can understand why.
From the App Store:
“Imagine gazing into a pond of crystal clear water. Picture bright, playful koi swimming through its shallow depths. So close. . . . Can you touch them? You run your fingers across the cool surface of the pond. Water ripples away from your touch. The koi, disturbed, dart away. Only to quickly forget and swim close to you once more. . . .Now imagine all this on your iPhone or iPod touch!”
Bellow is a short demo of the application done by one of its developers:
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