Topic: First Pond Moral Support...

[delboy]

The butyl liner has arrived; ditto the overlay; ditto again the sand.

Now I have to take a big gulp and set to the task in hand.

The information from this site is way clearer than the various books and articles I have read, and the Butyl Products(Billericay, Essex)lady - Teresa - was also well helpful, and the liner etc arrived 24 hours after ordering. No time to work up to it.

Tomorrow morning will be the start of the stress.....

Plants are for later.

[Mimi]

Ahhh but have you dug the hole yet  Del  ;)  ;D

[delboy]

Doh!

[Mimi]

Best of luck anyway.. its hard work but sooooo worth it ;D

[Svengali]

Just two words of advice. Firstly, decide well in advance what you intend to do with the spoil heap, and try to use it to create a new feature of the landscape rather than just wish that it would go away!
Secondly, the current weather is not ideal for trying to work with butyl, which will be stiff & very unsupple. If you have the option, try to lay it on a warm day.
JeremyB

[delboy]

Thanks for those tips Svengali.

The spoil will indeed make the ex-lawn  more interesting, and raied beds the more so.

No-one mentioned the butyl being stiff and therefore tricky.. nor did they mention the weight of the monster roll that arrived. Going to wait until my son is back from his hols before attempting to install the liner.

The sand and weed suppressant sheets are in, as well as the garishly white geotextile liner that came with it. I was going to put the latter over the butyl liner, but when I saw how white it was...

[Mimi]

One tip that I was given (unfortunately it was after I had completed the pond) was to spread the liner over the top of the pond area.  Instead of trying to make it fit the hole, just to weight down the edges and then put the hose pipe in the middle of the liner and let the weight of the water take the liner down.  It apparently makes a much neater job and stops the liner wrinkling.  I haven't tried it so I cant vouch for it but makes sense to me.  Would love to see some photos of the finished job.

[delboy]

Photos. Posted photos.. Technology possibly beyond me, but photos there will be,
Son is pooter student, so maybe Ill ask him to "do the necessary"!

Good idea with the water in while weighted down, but... if weighted down and we put water in, won't the liner tear? Or at least stretch? Told you I was a rooky at this.

Next daft question: When does the tapwater definitely become "safe" for plants to go into it?

[Mimi]

When I said weighted down I didn't mean with anything humungous.  Just a few bricks around the edge would do great. If you know anyone else with a pond, beg a bucket full of their pond water and (after yours has been filled for a few weeks) add it to your pond.  It sort of 'seeds' the pond with all the bugs and stuff that will help it to become more established.  Not that I am any expert though Del.  I have only ever built one pond and that was 3 1/2 yrs ago.  ;)

[grawrc]

Geoff Hamilton showed how to do it (like Mimi suggests) in "Paradise Gardens".

[Doris_Pinks]

Del the stretchy out thingy does work, have built 5 ponds this way! Also deffo try and do it on a warm day as Svengali suggestes, makes the butyl more pliable, leave it stretched in the sunshine over the hole for a while, it will help. Oh and when you fill, don't forget to keep moving the rocks to ease the liner in gently, if you wander away and forget, you suddenly have rocks in your pool and lots of wrinkly edges!! (bin there done that!!!)
And Mimi's suggestion is great about the pond water, just make sure the pond it is coming from is healthy, and has no duckweed. (I HATE duckweed!!)
I usually put my plants in almost immediately, don't know if that is right or wrong, but figure the sooner I can get them in, the sooner it looks and acts like a "real" pond! ;D

[busy_lizzie]

All good advice.  We filled our ponds from the water butts so no tap water safe time required and when we put the liner in we filled it with water and anchored with bricks too.  We left it this way for a couple of days so that things had well and truly settled before we did anything about the edges.  Then we put our plants in.  It is great having a pond.

[delboy]

Thank you one and all. As long as it warms up this afternoon, and before the Man Utd v Arsenal game, the butyl will go on/in the hole.

Only left the geo textile stuff from yesterday overnight and there are fox and cat footprints all over it. No chance they'll drown I suppose... That would stop the critters digging up broad beans and strawberries..

This site really does give better advice than any of the books I have seen/bought/read. Some of them are a royal rip-off with huge gaps in what does need to be done. Almost plagiarize each other, a bit like some of the gardening books...

[grawrc]

I think the great advantage here is that it is interactive and you get lots of different points of view. When there is consensus you can be pretty sure you've got it right! ;)

[delboy]

Pond now structurally finished, with a few plants in and nearby, and it does look good, except that the water is green.

My assumption is that the water will clear over time....

Thanks to all who gave me the moral support! Have a productive, fun and great bank holiday.