GreenNeedle
Member
As I have virtually completed the groundwork on my main and front gardens 'planting excluded' I have been thinking about the end section which currently is the tip for all the debris that came out of the other gardens.
What I am thinking of is having a nice peaceful area with a summerhouse (more like a 6 x 4 open fronted shelter for 2 chairs, couple of fruit trees and a smallish pond complete with waterfall. The whole area surrounding would be lawn. I am currently calling it a 'nature garden'.
The total area we are talking about (not just the pond, the whole are for this project) is approx 21ft x 21ft. The 'summerhouse' would be in the left rear area slightly angles with a small compost bin behind it. Steps would lead down to the gate separating this area from the main garden. The trees (cherry and pear or similar) would be approx 3ft in from the right rear and left front corners.
The pond would have the waterfall starting somewhere from the right rear and feed into a figure of 8 style pond where the upper section of the 8 on the waterfall side would be slightly smaller. say 3/4ft diameter and the lower section would be about 6/8ft diameter.
The whole of this area (21ft x 21ft) slopes from the rear to the gate at the moment and is approx 1ft higher at the rear than the front.
My plan 😉 is to level out the pond area and surrounding ft or so, Then put the pond liner in and create a mound rising about 2ft higher than pond (maybe 1½ft above the current ground level) This would mean I can 'bury' the debris of concrete that isn't reused for steps and also approx ½ton of limestone varying in size from shrapnel to 6inches x 6 inches. After that I would grass seed the lot and let it grow in naturally.
Here comes my real need for advice. How far from the trees would the pond need to be? What sort of volume am I/should I be looking at here. I am thinking of 3ft for the larger diameter and 2ft for the smaller. I would be wanting to plant the pond up and make it look pretty natural. Any advice on how to go about the process and/or links to some good guides.
Now as you all know. I have virtually zero cash. This is going to be yet another budget effort. In total (not including the landscaping as I can pretty much work for free ) I would have about £300 to spend on equipment and liner here. Everything else will be virtually 'rubbish' reclaimed. i.e. I am thinking of using some broken conrete paving slabs stepped for the waterfall and then 'gluing' larger pieces of the limestone onto these with mortar or similar to make it look quite natural. The budget wouldn't include sand for lining the hole.
For the planting I am wondering can I just chuck loads of compost in and then put the plants in or would that 'pierce' the liner eventually? So I have to go for pots?
After a few months of 'acclimitising' I would like to put just a few cheapo goldfish in the pond to add some life but this will definately not lead to anything else like Koi. It would just be to add some life and nothing else.
So there we are. All help will be very gratefully received so I can start the planning.
AC
What I am thinking of is having a nice peaceful area with a summerhouse (more like a 6 x 4 open fronted shelter for 2 chairs, couple of fruit trees and a smallish pond complete with waterfall. The whole area surrounding would be lawn. I am currently calling it a 'nature garden'.
The total area we are talking about (not just the pond, the whole are for this project) is approx 21ft x 21ft. The 'summerhouse' would be in the left rear area slightly angles with a small compost bin behind it. Steps would lead down to the gate separating this area from the main garden. The trees (cherry and pear or similar) would be approx 3ft in from the right rear and left front corners.
The pond would have the waterfall starting somewhere from the right rear and feed into a figure of 8 style pond where the upper section of the 8 on the waterfall side would be slightly smaller. say 3/4ft diameter and the lower section would be about 6/8ft diameter.
The whole of this area (21ft x 21ft) slopes from the rear to the gate at the moment and is approx 1ft higher at the rear than the front.
My plan 😉 is to level out the pond area and surrounding ft or so, Then put the pond liner in and create a mound rising about 2ft higher than pond (maybe 1½ft above the current ground level) This would mean I can 'bury' the debris of concrete that isn't reused for steps and also approx ½ton of limestone varying in size from shrapnel to 6inches x 6 inches. After that I would grass seed the lot and let it grow in naturally.
Here comes my real need for advice. How far from the trees would the pond need to be? What sort of volume am I/should I be looking at here. I am thinking of 3ft for the larger diameter and 2ft for the smaller. I would be wanting to plant the pond up and make it look pretty natural. Any advice on how to go about the process and/or links to some good guides.
Now as you all know. I have virtually zero cash. This is going to be yet another budget effort. In total (not including the landscaping as I can pretty much work for free ) I would have about £300 to spend on equipment and liner here. Everything else will be virtually 'rubbish' reclaimed. i.e. I am thinking of using some broken conrete paving slabs stepped for the waterfall and then 'gluing' larger pieces of the limestone onto these with mortar or similar to make it look quite natural. The budget wouldn't include sand for lining the hole.
For the planting I am wondering can I just chuck loads of compost in and then put the plants in or would that 'pierce' the liner eventually? So I have to go for pots?
After a few months of 'acclimitising' I would like to put just a few cheapo goldfish in the pond to add some life but this will definately not lead to anything else like Koi. It would just be to add some life and nothing else.
So there we are. All help will be very gratefully received so I can start the planning.
AC