Raised Ponds easy, cheap, fun and portable

Yes, I have some lilies and some water lotus. I bought them from the co-op 2 years ago. Thank you for the kind offer. Here is a pic of one of the lotus this was growing in my box pond last year.

I haven't tried the lotus but that looks lovely.

It's been a long time coming but I finally did get my bathtub finished. It is up and running and looking good. I have to dig a bed around it and get it planted. Also I have some water plants for it as well. If it will stop raining long enough I should be ready for pics next week.

can't wait to see pics hollyanns

Janet

I have a 4'x12'x2' deep raised garden box built earlier this spring for growing veggies. My dogs had other plans though, including digging up all the corn my daughter planted (grrrrrr!) and several holes in the dirt. I've been contemplating turning it into a raised pond, perhaps dug down about a foot in the center to give it a little more depth there and more shallow toward the ends. Hubby doesn't think the existing structure would hold the pressure of the water, but I think it will because the garden box was built VERY sturdy (inside frame is 2x12s and the outside is framed in vertical 2x6s. Any suggestions from those with wooden raised ponds on how to go about this, ideas, or things I should consider while I'm still in the planning stages? It's in a good place location wise. Maybe tomorrow, I'll post some pics of the box and surrounding area.

jlj, I'll ask Ric when he gets up and see what he thinks. Mine is smaller and a bit more more heavily constructed than that. It is also more square than yours would be and that might make a difference, too. Please post more pics.
I have some pics from my box pond to post. Here is my GD Lily checking out some of the pond wildlife.

Here is some more wildlife, a small water turtle, thanks to GS JR who brought it home from the river. We'll keep it for a while and see how he does, he is pretty shy, hopefully he will get use to us coming and going and won't slip into the water at the first glimpse. He had better not eat my water lotus or he is out of there. LOL

I put in a small bed on one side of the box pond this year. Hoping to soften up the look of the old above ground pool behind it. Also made a nicer mow line on that side. I planted cannas behind the pond hoping to screen the pool pump and filter. They are slow coming up this year and haven't grown tall enough to be seen yet. There are Cannas, Lilies, Calla Lilies, and a few other smaller flowers in there. The callas are small but are all blooming and the lilies are getting ready to bloom very soon. Afraid the deck back ther is a bit messy Ric has been working on the pump so try to pay no attention to the mess behind the pond, please.

Thanks Holly. I'll post some pictures tonight.

I have three pictures I just snapped, which show the raised garden bed. Please disregard the destruction of the corn that my daughter planted. We thank the beagle for that mess. :(

2nd Pic

Last but not least ... The inside frame of the garden bed is constructed with horizontal 2x12s all around. The exterior has vertical 2x6s all around. It's quite sturdy, and anchored into the ground in the corners.

jlj, That looks like a nice raised bed. Oh yes I know all about beagles. LOL
We have a beagle/basset mix, beagle energy with a basset hound bay.
Ric's been busy getting RR ties all day and is now trying to figure out his new DVD player (fathers day gift). He'll probably check out your pics, tomorrow.

jlj.....

I really like your planters with just the sweet potato vines in them. Never thought of just using them.

Also like the raised bed. So handy they are.

Janet

I think it would be plenty strong, I wonder if it is deep enough. Hoping others with more experience will chime in here, but NC gets pretty hot, doesn't it? That's where pool depth for fish comes in, if you want a water garden only, it would be perfect!

Brenda

I figured I would probably dig it a bit deeper than it is now, at least in the center area. It's partly shaded in the hottest months though, so that would help in terms of the temperature.

jij, Do the 2 x 12 run lengthwise on the inside? If they do they would be strong enough side support. The problem is that it is long so it will be weak in the middle. Looks like the deck supports behind the back wall would help reinforce that back wall but the front would need some reinforcement. Something that goes down in the ground to add middle support. Ric, said something that would bridge the middle would give it more support. You might want to put 4X4's in the corners depending on how you have the corners nailed together, also. I was thinking about RIc's bridge the middle comment. and was wondering if you sank 2 4X4's in the ground on the outside of the box maybe 2 ft apart, both in front and behind. Then put down 2 x 6 across the top from front side to back side. It would add support in the middle and give you a bench seat in the middle, with open pond on each side. You could sit a cushion on it to sit and enjoy the pond or maybe a large pot. We both think you have a real good idea just maybe need a little more reinforcement. Hope I have been able to describe this well enough.

Holly -- Thanks to you and Ric for the input. Greatly appreciate it. I'll try to answer your questions/comments the best I can here. The 2x12s do run horizontally the length of the garden bed (12 feet long) inside the vertical 2x6s you see on the front. Additionally, there is a 2x4 in the center toward the top that is bracketed in on each side holding the two long sides together, if that makes sense. If you look in the second picture, in the middle of the box, you'll see a black line running across ... that's what I'm talking about. They set the 2x4 cross-beam into brackets attached to each length-wise section for what I assume was structural integrity to prevent the weight of the soil from pushing out (which I imagine would be the same case with the water). I hadn't decided yet how I would conceal that bar, but imagine some plant growth would work in the short term. Alternatively, I could just run a wood shelf over it to put some non-water plants or figures (e.g., my little "Frog House"). The other black strappy looking things you see running lengthwise were the drip irrigation installed on the box.

In the middle and in each corner, there are posts (I want to say they are 2x2s) driven down into the ground to anchor the box. But I like the idea of the 4x4s down in the ground along the front, making a nice bench to sit on. :)

One last concern I have and want to mention is that the wood used is rated (treated) for ground contact. To make the garden safe for eating veggies, there was a thick rubber liner used all around the interior in any place where the wood would have contact with the soil/veggies. I would image that the fish and plants would be safe using this, as there would be in additional pond liner used in the conversion process to a pond. Thoughts on that?

jlj, There are a couple of different ideas and concerns about plastic pond liners. We have used rubber roofing in our box pond without any issue. But I know that there are some that wouldn't use it and others that don't seem to have an issue. Ric's napping I'll have him look at the thread later. Poor Boy was moving RR Ties yesterday and is hurting bad today.
Anyone else that has opinions or suggestions feel free to jump into this conversation. One of the things I like best about DG is the sharing of knowledge.

Rubber roofing? Is that a substance that you paint on and it forms a sealed surface?

No it is a thick rubber sheeting that is used on certain types of roofs. In our area some commercial roofers use it and if you don't need too big of a piece you can get the leftovers for little to nothing.

Holly

that is an interesting substitute for pond liner. Smart thinking on your part.

we have this store called Marc's here and they have the cheapest prices on things from time to time that I've ever seen. 2 years ago I picked up pond liner for $5.00 bucks. Never could decide where to put the pond so I decided to use it to cover on some weeds that I had been trying to kill. Well I got it out and started to unfold it and it keep unfolding and unfolding. Never did I think it was that big. I knew it was heavy, the size ended up being 6' wide by 14' long. Had I known that at the time I would have picked up several of them. It really worked great killing the weeds but then this summer I uncovered the are and put in some rose of sharon and the weeds have come back 10 fold. Man I really hate that area.

Janet

jlj...The pond liner we used was a 45 mil, but you could get by with less. I wouldn't go too thin however, one beagle claw and it would be history! LOL!
Also when I first looked at the pond, I was trying to figure out how to anchor the liner. What I would do if it were me, is pull the edges of the liner over your existing edge and anchor with screws with washers. Make sure you get enough slack inside the pond bottom to stretch if needed. Then build a larger frame with 2" x 8" s to "cap the current edge and provide a shelf of sorts. One board to rest on all the edges and then another drop down on the outside (3 sides). It would be additional support for the water weight.

Last year I posted a pic of my rusty old bathtub and mentioned that I was going to turn it into a small pond. Well I have it up and running and you can see pics of it on this thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1008082/#new

LOVE that pond, Holly! Great job by you and the family!

Brenda

I know it's been a while, but hopefully I can get some input. . . .

Crazy... How do you have your pond liner inside of the stones? Is in sunken in, or built around some type of platform? Rigid liner or no?

Thanks :)

An old claw foot bath would look great but maybe not deep enough for me. Heres my raised concrete pond next to our back deck, just finished and only has the one lily and 8 goldfish atm..

That is a nice looking pond Breeindy, It has a very modern look, I would love to see more pics as it fills in. You are right about the bathtub being shallow. Both my Bathtub and Box ponds get emptied for the winter and the plants and fish get moved to my in-ground pond. It isn't big but is 3ft deep and I stack the pots in the bottom to overwinter.

I agree, that is a very pretty pond, breeindy! Keep sharing pictures as you go.

Brenda

I've been reading about all your raised ponds for about three years. What a lot of great ideas! Breeindy, I love the look of your raised concrete pond. Would you write about how it was constructed? And how did you get the concrete dark like that?

I'm hoping some of you are still watching this topic, and can give me some ideas about why I have killed ANOTHER goldfish. I bought a 2x2ish by 6 foot galvanized stock tub two years ago. I wanted to move up from a whisky half barrel to something bigger. The half-barrel was very pretty, and supported two goldfish with plants.

When I filled the stock tank I didn't put any fish in for a while - thank goodness, because when I added plants, they died. To make a long story short, the stock tank has been out in the yard for the past two years, collecting rain water and leaves. Last summer year I noticed there where live mosquito larvae in it, which given the history of the tank was, I thought, really super!

So this year I thought it would be safe for fish. I cleaned out most of the leaves, took out about half of the water, refilled with well-water, started up the pump for aeration, and bought one sarasa comet.

It was swimming happily at 10 PM last night when I did a final check on the pond. This morning it was dead. I am so upset about it I have no words to describe it, except to say that I waited for two years to put a fish in it, and now this.

Anyway, I took the dead fish and a water sample to my local excellent pond and aquarium shop where I had purchased the fish. They tested the water, and found that everything was well within healthy ranges. The only thing he suggested was that maybe the pH of the shop's water was very different than mine, so next time I added a fish, don't just let the temp adjust before putting the fish in the stock tank, but also add water to the fishes bag for about an hour to help the fish adjust.

Do you all have any thoughts or ideas? I need feedback because I am beginning to wonder if I simply have a toxic stock tank.

Sounds like you have done all the right things. I am assuming the well water is un-chlorinated? I know temperature has a lot to do with my aquarium fish, and may also be a factor in the ponds. Do you have your stock tank in the ground or above ground? A sunny day here would cook fish above ground.

I was thinking about the same lines as Sheila, sounds like you did it right. Temps in stock tanks can get high depending on the area you live. But that shouldn't have been an issue in your area yet. We keep fish in our Bathtub pond and it gets warm. Gold fish are pretty good with high and low temp ranges. I would buy a few feeder fish "small goldfish" they sell for about 20 cents apiece and give it another try. Maybe someone with a stock tank would have other ideas on why.

I bought 8 feeder goldfish last year... I have 6 left now.. they have grown a LOT. The temp in my raised stock tank varies a lot because it is in partial sun and actually gets a lot of ice on the top in the winter some days. I keep the pump running all the time. Definitely acclimate the fish to the water slowly.. add a little water at a time to their bag over an hour while the bag floats in the pond then let them into the pond. I was very choosey when I picked out the fish.. got ones that looked different.. I am glad I did because I can now tell all but two apart. They are about 6" each now.

I killed many fish before I put in an auto fill on my pond. That is because I have city water and left the water running many times.. the chlorine killed them. I have the water conditioner I use when adding water but when I got busy and forgot.... dead fish. That little auto fill has saved them.. it is just a float from a swamp cooler. My father set it up for me..... he sure is handy.

fwiw, we started with little fish we scooped up out of the neighborhood creek. They ate the mosquitoes and, I'm imagining, just generally kept the ecosystem in balance.

Lhasa... Please post a pic if you have one of the homemade autofill system.

Here is a pic of the autofill.. we drilled as high as we could go to palce it and it is easy to adjust the float where I want the water level. Dad first bought a long float.. I had him go back to buy a shorter one. The plants usually mostly cover it. This is the end where everything comes out the back.. the electric cord to the pump and that white thing is the light rope I have attached along the inner edge of the pond.. it works soooo much better than any of those expensive pond lights. I went through a fortune in lights before I came up with that cheap solution.. two years and still haven't had to replace that 9.00 dollar investment. That was one after Christmas buy that was WELL worth it. I lowered the water level a few inches.. drilled holes up really high around the edge...and used those plastic zip ties to attach the light rope. I then used aquarium silicone to fill in the holes ... let dry for 2 hours then raised the water level. ... I LOVE my lights. Have them on a timer under a plastic bin behind the pond. I put it in another plastic tub so if water should stand in the area it won't get wet and the bin on top keeps it dry from any splash or rain. All electrical ends and anything that might be possibly exposed is in that plastic container. Raised safe and dry.

Here is the water faucet where the water originates. It is about 20 ft from the pond. It sure was a pain to drag the hose over to the pond every day or two to fill it up. Yes, I had to do it daily due to high evaporation and splash from my water can. That is why I killed my fish so much.

I have had the pond 4 years now and the watering can has rusted out in the center of the spout so it does not splash at all now.. at least not enough to notice. So far, I have not had to do any cleaning really,,, the pond is so low maintenance it is WONDERFUL. I need to trim the plants around it.. they have GROWN. I just feed the fish and enjoy the sound and having it. I don't do anything different in the winter either.

Did you acclimate the fish before you put it in the pond?

Thanks for the picture....guess I would have to figure out something to keep it stationary. I have an inground with stones, not plastic sides, just liner. This is a pic while refilling after a cleaning.