A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 How NOT to build a pond!

First of all, don't start the project when you are mad or in a bad mood.


Second, USE A MEASURING TAPE!
Don't estimate the size...because it will turn out wrong.

I bought a pond liner at Lowe's yesterday. It is hidden in the back of the Avalanche under some stuff. It is a 10' X 13'. The reason I am laughing here is because I just dug a pond 10' wide...not to mention 4' deep...and about 16' long.
In other words...I just dug a freaking POOL instead of a goldfish pond.



...more to follow after I get back from Lowe's (in the next town!) :rolleyes: with a bigger pond liner.

Cindy JANET

my my my-quite ambitious aren't you? Did you do that all by hand? I knew a guy in my previous life that I wish I had a tape mesure - never could do eye measuring very accurate.

Well...I was earlier...now I am quite SORE!


No, but I did a LOT of it by hand! :rolleyes:
I started with a backhoe...and couldn't really tell how deep and wide it was...it looked a lot smaller from the backhoe. Well...that comment brought back a memory for me, too!

Cindy Janet

Cindy!!! Another pond!!!! You're so lucky , but seriously---do you know what you are getting yourself into.... Next year around this time you'll be freaking out over winterizing 2 ponds instead of one.... I'm just picking on you you know that...I think it's great...will you come dig me out a pond too?????? Bring the backhoe on up here to MD---nobody will mind following you on the interstate....

Yeah...big trouble!

Sure...can I hit the road in your direction tomorrow?
...and I might need to stay awhile.

You are nuts, absolutely nuts,

*shaking head over and over*

Andy's just going to love you!!!!! You know you could just tell him he must be going and seeing things....

When he says, what the &^%&* is that in the yard just act like you don't see it!

...and guess what???
I just paid his cell bill OVER THE PHONE!
I didn't have to pass Lowe's to begin with!

I'm gonna go out there and practice that before he gets here...you know, the perplexed look on my face, the shrugging of my shoulders, the tone of my "Huh??? Pond???"

You're bad!!!!


I just hope when he gets there that he can see the hole...could you imagine if he fell in it....be pretty hard to pretend it wasn't there then--and then he'd really be mad.

Whoooooooopssssss!!!

All I can say about that is...
Too bad it doesn't have water in it yet! ! ! ! !

Your too funny...I'd love to be your neighbor...I could sit outside and watch you fall in your ponds all day...

OMG!
I hadn't even thought of the fun of having 2 ponds to fall into now!

Hey, it's a cheap way to keep cool in the summer.......

The Morning After


Well...it's a good thing I didn't try to move the backhoe last night. Or, maybe if I had gone ahead and moved it it would have been O.K., since there wasn't ice on the yard last night like there was this morning.

The side yard that the backhoe had to be driven down is a hill...not all that steep, but pretty long. Andy moved the backhoe before he left...and when he started down the steep part of the hill (the top is steeper than the bottom...) the backhoe started sliding on the ice, and turned sideways. When he got to the bottom of the hill it started tipping over...was on two wheels, with the other two about 18 inches off the ground...but he kept it from turning over. I was standing at the top of the hill watching, and let me tell you...you couldn't have driven a greased needle up my a$$ with a sledgehammer.

He wasn't even mad about the pond or the backhoe...
...but he doesn't know about the pond liner, etc. he bought yet.

Cindy Sue

I laughed until I was crying. My hubby came in to bug me and I read your adventures and he said Don't even think about it. Spoil sport. Anyhow-I thought that ponds weren't suppose to be under trees-something about them needing sunlight. If this isn't true-as my daughter says Score! I know just the place for one next year!! I can do this while he is on one of his road trips.

Oh, man...this sooooo tops the "horse blanket in the washer" thing I do...

If only My hubby knew how lucky he is....


I think I need another pond...and the horse blanket looks a little muddy this week!

Well...they're not.
I like to do everything bass-ackwards!

Update

This ------->
is a good thing to have when building a pond.
But...you should use it when you start digging the pond...while you still have access to a backhoe.

I set it up this morning and found out that one side of my pond was 6" higher than the other side. :rolleyes: So, I have been digging most of the day...with a shovel. I had to take 6" of dirt off of 18 FEET around the pond. The pond is almost 18' long...and about 8 feet wide.

Andy said he would come back this afternoon before his "date"

I got it in the pond and started filling it with water. I had to take my boots off and get in to keep the liner in the right spots...and I about froze to death. When I got about 2 feet of water in it I got out to get a glass of wine. When I got back into the pond with my pint mason jar of wine, I slipped on the slick liner and went right down in over 2 feet of very cold water. So, my pond has been christened now...it has a pint of Chardonnay in it. I was soaked from head to toe, so I changed clothes and went back out to the pond. I filled it up to about 3 feet, then it got way too cold...I couldn't feel my toes anymore. So, I came in.
I'm trying to dry my cell phone out right now...I took it apart and have all the pieces laying on the heat register, so hopefully it will dry out and be O.K. I have such bad luck with phones. :rolleyes:

Cindy Sue

I knew it, I just knew it!!! I KNEW that you'd be in that pond within 24 hrs of digging it out!!!!!! What in the world are we supposed to do with you?????

I am still freezing!
I just can't get warmed up.
I don't like getting in a swimming pool in the hottest part of summer...let alone falling into a pond on an autumn day...and today it was 55 degrees out.

Rachel said if I leave my phone on the heat thing for a few days it will dry out and be o.k., but I don't think so ...because I dropped one in a septic tank once and tried to dry it out and it never worked right again.

Cindy-you remind me of a famous quote which has been used for a very long time but somehow it reminds me of you and this lastest indenvor: "I have a dream...."

Yeah...that'd be me. "The Dreamer"!
...most of them turn into nightmares, though.

I just watched a very informative show on HGTV about building a garden/goldfish pond. I did everything WRONG! The first thing they did before starting ANYTHING was shooting grade. I didn't set the laser up until I had finished digging the pond. That cost me 4 extra hours.

...and now we know why the name of this topic is "how NOT to build a pond"!

If I did something right the first time I'd probably go into shock.

Cindy S.U.

I'm too tired to even tell you what I did today...
...but here's a pic of where I am.
This sucker is deep!
I ought to know...I took a swim in it today!
The "little" pond behind it is 13 feet long...if that gives you and idea!



Cindy