Pond liner - advice?

This is my first garden pond. It is dug out of fill dirt which is primarily clay so it has a good solid base. My plan is to lay carpet or some other type of padding first, then a flexible liner with some pebbles on top of it. I've gone online to research liners and am not sure which to chose. They all say they are the 'best'. I would like the liner to be heavy enough to avoid punctures as I will be putting plant pots into the pond. The deep end is approx 30" and the upper end, to be a bog garden, is approx 8" and forms a shelf 1/2 way around the pond. Does anyone have recommendations?

Debra

45 mil edpm is a standard liner for ponds, if I were you I would look for the best price. Look around locally for commercial liner suppliers, you never know when you might find one in your town. I was able to get a 50' x 30' liner seamed to size right here in town, all I had to do was pick it up. They carry odd sizes at a discount also.

I agree----and you can search online, too, and maybe find a deal. Your shape is irregular (no, sorry, I mean your POND's shape is irregular) so you want something that will conform as much as possible. The EDPM does that pretty well, though you will have folds on the edge that you'll need to work with.

Also, when you choose your pump, you'll need to take the lift height of your waterfall into consideration. Look for energy-efficiency to keep your costs down. I also have mine on a timer so it doesn't run 24 hours a day. It runs about 12---if I had only goldfish I could run it less.

You could also consider pond underliner/underlayment instead of the carpeting. It is easier to work with, lighter, less bulk for creases and folds, and will not rot.

Yep - I always found the best prices on the internet. We don't have many water garden supply options around here - so I saved at least a third of the cost of the liner, pump, skimmer/filter, etc. on-line. - Dax

Thanks for all the advice. I've been gone all day since posting my question and am so pleased to return and find so many responses. It helps to be able to narrow down which product I'm zeroing in on when comparison shopping. I'll shop fpr 45 mil edpm. I'm still looking at falls/fountains so don't know my pump needs yet. Saw some interesting ideas today. With the Japanese Maple being the focal point of the garden, I'm considering some type of fountain with a 'zen' type of feel to it. (what ever that is) Don't want it too formal - something simple. If I go with a waterfall it will only be1 or 2 flat stones but I do like a little sound to it.

Snapple, your advice about the underliner makes a lot of sense. Imapigeon, I like the idea of the timer - that makes a lot of sense, too! Azreno and Dax, I think we have quite a few suppliers in our area, but will have to compare their prices to those online.

I'm not even going to consider expensive koi because of cost and maintenance, but may add some cheap goldfish to have something to watch. They will probably end up being eaten by a water moccasin so I don't dare name them!

Debra

Koi need much deeper water and more oxygen than goldfish, so that's something else to take into consideration. No matter how small your water feature is, if you have fish, the predators will come. My friend had a puddle about 24 inches in diameter and about 18 inches deep, and periodically he'd look out the window and see a great blue heron standing in it scarfing up the fish. The bird looked really silly, but I'm sure he didn't care! My friend finally had to criss-cross fishing line across his whole terrace overhead to keep this bad boy out. Probably better to just accept it and find a good source of feeder-fish at 10 for $1.00!

That's another reason I would only use cheap fish. We have raccoons, snakes, herons, etc. The heron stays at our big pond and I doubt it would be willing to come into the enclosed courtyard, but it might. I know water moccasins come in the area because I've killed two of them. The one below had just consumed a frog. Yuck.

I've located a couple of local pond supply companies and will be looking at liners, under-liners and pumps today and tomorrow.

Euewwwwwww! Aarghhhhhhhhh! Dax

Yeah, I kinda ruined his day. He had just eaten the frog and was lounging on top of a brick retaining wall soaking up sun on an unusually warm October day (I remember the details well). The wall is about my head height and approx 20' from our back porch. My dobi/lab mix alerted me to an 'intruder'. Brrrrr.....gave me the shivers when I saw it there. My first instinct was to grab the handgun we keep loaded for emergencies (I declared this an emergency!) but then realized I didn't want to damage the brick wall or kill myself or a dog with a ricocheting bullet. A flat edged hoe was the perfect weapon. I almost lopped his head off with the first swing. The dobi/lab kept trying to grab it so I had to hold it's head down in the ground with the hoe to keep her from being bitten - that's when she bit off the end of it's tail (see photo). Once it was dead, I lifted it with the hoe and heard a 'BLURP' kind of sound. That's when the frog slipped out onto the ground. YUCK!!!! The frog was so fresh he looked as though he could have hopped away. He's a littled dried up in the photo. That hoe now stays in the garage and has been used many times to kill water moccasins and copper heads. Non-venomous snakes are allowed to live, but venomous snakes found in our 'living space' are not. Their last image is of Debra welding a flat edged hoe saying "Make my day....".

BLEAAAAHHHH.....awright---you GO, girl!!! You're sure you want to add a water feature to your garden? Is this just going to be a trap for water mocs so you can pursue your REAL hobby???

ROTFL! Believe me, I thought twice about it. Didn't want to ATTRACT them, but the strange thing is.....we tend to find the water moccasins on land and the copperheads in the water. Weird.

DG has the most helpful, knowledgeable members on the web. Between this thread and my thread in the Japanese Maples forum (http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/695809/), I've received some valuable advice in regards to the re-design of our courtyard which includes a small pond. Since both threads have each developed into a journal of the building of the pond I thought it was best to create one new thread for that purpose. I welcome anyone interested to follow us there and PLEASE feel free to offer suggestions or advice.

Thanks! Here we are http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/702542/

Debra


This message was edited Mar 17, 2007 9:02 AM