Repairing The Pond

18 comments

This was my pond when I opened the garden for charity in August. You can’t tell from this photo but it had sprung a leak a few weeks before and the water level has been about six inches low all summer.

Now it’s late autumn and time to get it fixed.

First I had to take all the plants out. Needless to say, my garden robin came to watch and scolded me as he/she couldn’t reach the water for a drink. So I put a brick back in (just left of the fountain at the far end) and he/she was much happer. You can see how far the water has dropped.

The plants are being stored temporarily on the patio.

Next the pond had to be drained and cleared of accumulated mud and muck at the bottom

which was saved – I should get some enormous vegetables with all this goodness to go in the soil

The old liner was held in place by a row of bricks; these all had to be removed.

A felt underlay was put in the pond (to protect the new liner from sharp stones) and then the liner itself laid on top. As water was put back in, the liner was folded into position (sorry about the builder’s bum in this photo)

A top course of new bricks then had to be laid to hold the liner in place but we ran out of daylight at this point.

After a few hours next day, the top bricks were almost complete.

When the brickwork was finished and all the cement had set, the pond could be refilled with water

I shall leave the pond to settle down, empty of plants, during the winter and restock it (including new oxygenators) in early spring ready for opening the garden at the end of April.

16 Dec, 2009
14 likes

Comments

Terratoonie

Wow ~ a lot of hard work there, Andrew...
...but the end result looks good...
and you had your priorities correct in making sure the robin wasn't inconvenienced ;o)

16 Dec, 2009

Bulbaholic

Glad to see that it is up and functioning again, Andrew.

16 Dec, 2009

Mad

That is a great improvement Andrew and much bigger too. I bet it will look wonderful come summer, and hopefully you will miss the pea soup stage.
A lot of work, but so worthwhile.

16 Dec, 2009

Busylizzy

Looks great - we have a small hole in the liner of the fish pond which is going to be a nightmare to replace as its got an ornamental waterfall made from rocks and stones - ponds are great but so much work.

16 Dec, 2009

Spritzhenry

I'm sure you're glad that's fixed, Andrew. Will you change the planting in the pond?

16 Dec, 2009

Andrewr

No spritz - I'm keeping it much the same although I have one or two more pots to squeeze in. I decided to get rid of the water soldiers though as they are too rampant. I also managed to lose water mint this year (how on earth did that happen?!)

16 Dec, 2009

Kensington

It's not a nice job clearing the pond is it Andrew, but the nutrient - rich mud from the bottom of the pond should do wonders on the garden! Hope it all settles down now!

16 Dec, 2009

Sanbaz

alot of hard work done andrew and bet your glad it is done now, another job off the list,
by the way the builders bum wasnt that bad,, ive seen alot lot worse yak lol

16 Dec, 2009