Digging a Hole for a Pond
The most strenuous and labour-intensive part of pond building is digging the actual hole. Of course, if the hole is large enough, you might want to consider leasing a backhoe for the job. Find a local contractor and get a written price quotation. Be sure that the contractor includes the position of the pond, its depth, where you want to soil to be placed, and how you want the topsoil to be saved in the quotation. Specify clearly to the contractor what you exxpect and what you do not want to happen. Check to make sure that the contractor is fully insured before awarding the job.
If you're actually digging the hole for the pond, enlist the help of some general labourers. For smaller ponds, it may be possible to ask friends and family to help digging the pond by hand. If you are digging yourself, make sure that you wear a comfortable pair of boots and a pair of work gloves.
Before starting work, here are some considerations to take to mind:
- Ensure that your proposed site is not at the bottom of a hill. If this is the case, then you may want to reconsider the location because run-off water has a tendency to accumulate at the bottom of hills. Locating the pond at the bottom of this hill may cause your pond to constantly overflow.
- If the ground is sandy, you will have to resite the project or shore up the hole with plywood sheeting to prevent cave-in.
- If the ground is waterlogged, you should consider resiting the project, or you will have to lay piping underneath the footings to drain off excess water.
- Do not continue to dig through pipe or cable! Check with the city to ensure that there are no electric, water, gas, sewage, or oil lines underneathe your work site.
Pond Digging Step 1 – Mark out your pond shape
For liner ponds, use a rope with pegs to lay out the outline of the pond, according to your plan/design. This allows you to check to ensure that no trees, bushes, or obstacles will get in the way. It will also allow you to visualize your pond and what it will look like. You will need to decide how long and wide you want the pond to be. Move the pegs accordingly.
To prepare for a preformed pond, position the preformed liner on the ground in its proper alignment. Look straight down past the edge of the liner and use chalk to mark around the edges of the pond.
Pond Digging Step 2 – Removing grass and turf
Use a tape measure, pegs, and string to mark out the area to be removed. Take a spade and slice up the area into a grid, with each square having the same width as the spade. Hold the spade at a low angle and slice under the turf to remove one square in the grid. Repeat across the entire area.
Pond Digging Step 3 – Digging a level depth
To dig a level area in the ground, bang in a peg at the lowest point. Run a string to the higher ground and bang in another peg. Connect the two pegs with a length of wood and check to see how level it is by using a carpenter's level. Lower the ground along the line of the string and repeatedly check to see if the string is level. Work outward from these two points with additional pegs.
Pond Digging Step 4 – Disposing of soil
Topsoil from the dig is too precious to throw away and can always be put to use as pond backfill, pond edging material, material to be used to create a bank for a stream/waterfall, or for your garden. Try and plan the digging exercise so that the soil gets moved only once, from the hole to its final destination in the garden.
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