Gardening Landscaping

16 Garden Pond Building Tips

Japanese-style pond with fish swimming.

BasicB / Getty Images

A garden pond adds beauty, elegance, and lively interest to a yard. Whether a fish pond, a receiving basin for a waterfall, or a placid body of water for meditation and reflection, a garden pond provides a focal point that enhances yards. To create a garden pond that looks natural and is easy to maintain, follow these tips to give your house fantastic curb appeal.

  • 01 of 16

    Make the Pond Edges Level

    Dig the garden pond so that all edges around the entire perimeter are the same height, with no deviation.

    A garden pond's water level is only as high as the lowest point of the pond perimeter. Any low points are spillover points. It's hard to retroactively build up low edges, so plan this in advance.

  • 02 of 16

    Pond Depth Matters—Choose Wisely

    Deep or shallow, the depth of the garden pond affects all sorts of aspects once the water is in place: algae, safety, fish, appearance, and more.

    • Deep: With deep ponds, the bottom is less visible and rock cannot be seen. Fish might tuck themselves away, hidden. Deeper ponds also require more pond liner. Deep ponds can be a safety hazard if there are children—even children in the neighborhood.
    • Shallow: Shallow ponds are better for displaying decorative rocks on the bottom and fish are more prominent. However shallow ponds tend to build up algae faster because the light can reach more of the water with greater intensity.
  • 03 of 16

    Protect the Liner Against Burrowing Animals

    Burrowing pests such as groundhogs and moles can dig up holes in a lawn and garden. But the problem goes well past the point of annoying when the burrowing animal exits upward—under your garden pond, chewing away the pond liner in the process.

    The solution is to lay down a metal mesh called hardware cloth as a base for your pond bottom before shoveling a few inches of dirt over it. Then underlayment and liner go on top of the dirt layer. If your sides are dirt, not retaining wall block, then you should lay hardware cloth on the sides, too.

  • 04 of 16

    Budget for the Pond Liner

    Given the overwhelming expense of EPDM pond liners, the liner sometimes dictates the size of the pond. A quality 45mil EPDM liner, 15 feet by 20 feet, costs in the range of $325 to $375.

    If money is tight, you can save money with a PVC liner, but PVC liners don't hold up to the elements as well as EPDM liners. Plus, PVC liners are more stiff than EPDM. So, they don't conform to the pond's shape as well as EPDM.

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  • 05 of 16

    Accentuate Shapes

    If you want the pond's curves to show up, give them a bit more curve in the digging stage. Delicate nuances like curves and inlets look great in the digging stage. But they tend to get smoothed out and even obliterated with each stage of the pond-building process.

    Adding underlayment, liner, rocks at the bottom of the pond, and especially rocks along the bank of the pond all contribute to this softening process.

  • 06 of 16

    Create a Diversion Point For Spillover

    Create a predictable spillover point so that water can go to a safe spot if the pond overflows. You don't the pond to spill into basements or around the foundation.

    Spillover occurs in wet areas. It can even occur in dry areas if you happen to overfill the pond.

  • 07 of 16

    Avoid Tall, Vertical Pond Walls

    Avoid building tall, vertical pond walls since loose, natural stones are difficult to stack vertically. Not only does the rock tend to fall, but a greater amount of rocks or larger rocks are also needed to cover this area. Try to keep the garden pond banks at a 45-degree angle or less, if possible.

  • 08 of 16

    Install a Water Filter and Skimmer

    While there are substitutes, installing a permanent water filter is the gold standard for garden ponds. A permanent water filter mounted on the side of the pond stays out of the way. Since it is automatic, it will turn on at set intervals.

    While a permanent filter is more difficult and costly to install at first, it makes for easier pond maintenance over the long term. Your other options for filtration will be manual skimming or floating filtration devices.

    Hand skimming is a constant job. Floating filters take up a lot of water surface and are unsightly.

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  • 09 of 16

    Terrace the Pond Bottom

    Sloped garden pond banks, if angled sharply enough, cause rocks to slide to the bottom. To avoid this, terrace the garden pond's sides and bottom, much like farming terraces or stair risers and treads.

    Keep each terrace riser no more than about 6 inches high to avoid stacking rocks too high. Create terraces by cutting them directly in the dirt with the shovel, as long as the dirt is packed tight enough to hold shape.

  • 10 of 16

    Cover the Pond Liner

    Protect the pond liner from deterioration by covering it with rocks, pebbles, smooth gravel, or plants. A professionally built garden pond shows no pond liner, inside or outside.

    Near the edges, at ground level, pare back the pond liner to about a feet from the edge of the pond. Doing so means less liner that you need to cover up.

  • 11 of 16

    Find Natural Sources For the Rocks

    Look for rocks for your pond whenever you are out. When you go on a trip and find a legitimate source of rock, toss a few in your car. Rivers are a good source of rounded river stones. Beaches, too, provide an endless source of pebbles, round stones, and sand. Just make sure that you can legally take the stones.

  • 12 of 16

    Think Ahead to Cleaning

    Owning a garden pond means keeping it clean. A garden pond collects everything that falls on it: leaves, dust, dirt, and all sorts of debris.

    Make cleaning easier by rocking the pond bottom so that it is smoother and easier to clean. Heavily rocked pond bottoms and jagged rocks are difficult to clean. Smaller, smoother rocks are easier to clean.

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  • 13 of 16

    Use an EPDM Liner For Durability

    Even though PVC pond liners are vastly cheaper than EPDM liners, EPDM liners are usually worth purchasing, if you can afford it. EPDM liners are thicker and far more durable than PVC liners.

    EPDM liners resist UV rays well, and even chemicals such as chlorine are no match for EPDM. Also, when warmed by the sun, EPDM liners become pliable and fit well into the pond hole.

  • 14 of 16

    Protect the Pond Liner With an Underlayment

    Protect that expensive EDPM pond liner by resting it on top of an underlayment. A pond underlayment softens rocks and roots in the soil. The water weight of a fully loaded pond can cause sharp objects to eventually piece the liner.  

    Install an underlayment made of polypropylene nonwoven needle-punched fabric. Or just add a 1-inch layer of sand. You can even use old carpeting.

  • 15 of 16

    Terrace the Pond With Foam

    Use landscaping foam or blocks of rigid foam to terraform the earth below and around the garden pond.

    Cans of landscaping foam, similar to insulation foam, are perfect for adding extra touches to curves. Large sheets of insulation foam can be creatively cut and stacked to provide a garden pond's basic terraced shape.

  • 16 of 16

    Protect Against Algae Growth

    Move or angle the garden pond away from sunlight to mitigate the problem of pond algae. Sunlight promotes algae growth in garden ponds.

    If you want sunlight on your garden pond, then you'll want to look into natural algaecides or inhibitors. Some pond owners simply drain their ponds during the most light-prone times of the year to avoid algae altogether.