Wood frame raised pond project

[sns26]

As if I need another project.

Following in Kris' footsteps, I'm planning to build a raised backyard pond as part of my urban backyard renovation. By 'urban backyard' I mean 'ridiculous cost per square foot.' Anyway, part of the price of my consent on this money (and dirt) pit was space for a pond. I'd like to do something square-ish about 3 feet x 3 feet. Or 2x4 or something. Is my best move a flexible plastic liner? Or is there someplace I can find a rigid liner in this size?

My plan is to do something like these - wood frame, cap rail to cover the edges. With a pond liner I have to be more careful about construction, I think, but from what I can see, 2x6 construction with decent joints would be fine. (I don't have Kris' masonry background.)

Also, wondering about sun exposure. This would get full sun during the summer months. Enough to grow vegetables. Is that too much? I could set up a way to put up a lattice screen on the south side for those months.

And how deep? I don't really want koi or anything that would get big and make me worry if it died and stunk. Or got really warm in summer. I usually toss in livebearers in the summer to eat mosquitoes, but otherwise it's for plants and bugs etc. If it's deep enough, could I overwinter anything non-carp-like?

[krisw]

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you put together, Sam! Are you planning to make to moveable one like the first two, or something more permanent like the latter? In terms of depth, the advantage to having a permanent one, is that you can dig a foot or two down into the ground so the fish have somewhere to move to if the top part get's too hot. It also increases your overall water volume without impacting the footprint too much. Mine is about a foot into the ground, and if I did it over again, might even go a bit deeper. My pond definitely get full sun, and algae does happen. I usually opt to let most of the surface cover with plants to help with this.

In terms of temperature, think about your circulation. I have one of the tetra pond filter boxes hooked to a submersible pump. The circulation is great, but compared to when I just used more of a fountain pump, I'm circulated cooler water from the depths to the surface and back. I'm probably defeating the purpose of keeping cooler temperatures down there, thus.

Other tidbits, if you do go deeper, use pots or bricks to set baskets closer to the surface for planting. Do not use cement blocks, as they're affect the water hardness significantly.

[sns26]

My plan is to do an open wood frame--by which I mean 4 sides with no bottom and (obviously) no top. I don't need for it to be truly portable (as in 'drain, pick up, and move'). But I do want to be able to change my mind; if I end up hating the thing after a couple of years, I want to be able to turn it into a plain old raised planting bed. Or yank it out, fill in the hole, and reclaim the cedar. And simple! No tricky joinery! (This is a message to myself.)

Plan is a plywood interior reinforced with pressure-treated 2x4s, and then a cedar sheathed exterior and a cedar cap rail. I am thinking of doing one edge of the box as a 12" deep 'dry' planter that I can put some flowers in. See picture below--although this guy did 4 edges. Maybe I could instead put in a 'shelf' inside the pond by using a rectangular container propped up on bricks that creates some semi-dry soil space.

I am going to design it so that the cap rail is 18" higher than the ground. That's standard bench height, and I want to be able to sit on the edge. My sense is that 18" is not as deep as I want, so I do plan to dig down beneath grade to give myself another foot or so of depth. That is 30" which I gather is deep enough to overwinter goldfish if ever I do that. Do you have to feed a small goldfish population? I hate feeding. And I forget to do it.

After reading about Kris' experience, I will run some underground wire out to the location of the pond to allow for an outlet. But I'd rather go without or with a solar pump.

Kris - does yours get full sun during the summer? How deep is your pond? What are the dimensions?
Also, I see that you did a 2x4 frame, and lined the inside with plywood. Did you use polyester fiber liner before the pond liner? Was there plywood? (Edit: I found the post where you said you did that...but no pix.) And did your frame extend below grade or was it a 4-sided box like I'm proposing?

[sns26]

Here's pictures and a nice link to the sort of structure I imagine. I'll have it a little more rustic in exterior finish.

http://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2012/ ... -pond.html

[I deleted the pictures to avoid confusion - the link is still good.]

[krisw]

After reading about Kris' experience, I will run some underground wire out to the location of the pond to allow for an outlet. But I'd rather go without or with a solar pump.

Kris - does yours get full sun during the summer? How deep is your pond? What are the dimensions?
Also, I see that you did a 2x4 frame, and lined the inside with plywood. Did you use polyester fiber liner before the pond liner? Was there plywood? (Edit: I found the post where you said you did that...but no pix.) And did your frame extend below grade or was it a 4-sided box like I'm proposing?

I like the sound of yours!

Yes, mine get's full sun. It's about 24" deep, but probably only 6" is below ground. I essentially dug around the whole area, put down cement (likely overkill), and built the box on top of that. Then put a bag or two of sand in the box to cushion the liner. I just used a pond liner on top of the plywood, no polyester fiber liner. Whether that's "correct" or not I don't know. As mentioned above, I wish I made mine deeper to overwinter things. Whether or not 1 foot is enough, I'm not sure.

[sns26]

I found another great link--even better--with detailed construction diagrams and a detailed materials list.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/landscapi ... d-in-a-box

[Aaron]

You might consider insulating the walls somehow if you want to overwinter the fish. I've seen a few threads on APC and TPT of folks using heaters to overwinter their tub ponds and it seems to work.

[scientist0724]

I love the raised bed pond! I may just have to install one when I get a greenhouse built!

Arlene

[sns26]

Happy Memorial Day. I knocked this out over the long weekend. The water surface is 32"x32" and about 30" deep. The outside frame is 42" x 42" by 24" high (the bottom 6" is below grade). Total volume is a bit over 100 gal.

First the hole - about 8" deep. That was more work than I would have liked.

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A 2x6 pressure-treated subframe over a couple of old slate squares with some gravel under the wood to provide some drainage:

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Framing:

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Plywood sides and thick layer of sand for the base:

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Underlayment:

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In goes the liner. I struggled to get the liner to fold nicely into the corners. I worked pretty hard at it and was not thrilled with my finished product. Bulky corners.

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Dealing with the cap boards. Another headache - the bunched up liner made it hard to level out the cap boards. At least I resisted the urge to do mitered corners. Very hard to get those right.

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Trip to Lilypons...the family had a blast. What a great spot. I picked up a couple of irises and a hardy lily. Yeah, I could have dug them up by the roadside, but it was worth giving them the business.

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"Finished" product. We know nothing is ever finished.

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[krisw]

Looks really nice Sam! Brings back a lot of memories for me! I had the same problem with the liner, but once I filled it, it seemed to straighten out, particularly after sitting in the sun and getting a bit more flexible. The corners look good from that final shot you show, so hopefully you're happy now? Did you decide to use (or not use) a filter/pump?

-Kris