New to gardenpond from Newark,De

[cat10]

Hello to everyone at gardenpond. My name is Cathi. I am starting a new pond that will be around 8x6 oval. Its about 30" deep. I am having a hard time with the placement of the pond. if you can offer any advice I'd really appreciate it. Here are some photos so you can see my problem. After digging the hole and putting the liner in I am baffled on how to disquise the large slope. When it rains the run off goes down into the pond so I have to add some kind of barrier but I'm stuck on how to do it. Thank you

 

[sissy]

welcome and plants will help some of the run off .But I know here in VA to contain wash outs the use sways .The land is dug out to allow water to drain away and safely down the whole sway so it does not wash the hills out .Under ground drains with those open grates on the top would work .like they put in front of garage doors Or where there is water laying in a yard the pipes take the water away and you just have a square grate in the ground.But both mean digging your yard up .You could also raise that whole side of the pond higher so water would run away from the pond .Put a lot of stone on the raised part to direct the water and you could still put in the drain system under the build up .

 

[sissy]

Also since you have a deck and pool on that side you should try to run the water the other way so it does not under mine your deck and pool .Your sure don't want the dirt washing away from under them .

 

[don't ask]

welcome
cat10

i think ii agree with sissy... digging a drain from maybe the steps in your 3rd picture around the perimeter of your pond, using drainage hose along with a "sock"? that the piping goes in to keep out dirt and sediment and then cover with stone and more of the large pavers. trying to build up that side may help but when heavy rains i think you'll have water going under your liner and possibly lifting it up.. probably a bit more work than you were anticipating but think that would be one of the better solutions.. sure others will chime in with suggestions

 

[sissy]

I thought about that building the side up after I posted it and thought also that the rain may run down behind the liner and possibly float it .Not sure if the soil will absorb all the rain you may get .If you hav good drainage I would do both ,raise the side and put drainage in ,2 things better than one and you may want to get it done before winter .

 

[addy1]

Ours in on a slope, pretty steep slope. The upside of the pond I had to dig down 4 feet to make the upper edge of the pond, built up the down slope side of the pond by about 8 feet. That 4 feet up slope side, is covered with rocks, stacked in a step fashion, the top rock further back then the one it is resting on. At the top of the rock wall I built up the dirt edge so it has a 2-3 inch back slope away from the pond. About 1 foot in from the top edge of the slope I dug a ditch, maybe 4 inches deep 5 inches wide, filled it with gravel, covered with land scape fabric to direct water around the pond. During the digging of the pond and shaping the slope I made it so the slope at the center of the pond is the highest point, towards both ends of the pond the ground drops away. Not a dramatic slope, maybe a few inches or so. Doing the above the water runs down the slope and paths around the pond. We have had some horrendous rains, so far no issues with it running under the liner or into the pond from the slope.

While I was building, during every storm I went out with an umbrella (non lightening storms lol) watched how the water ran down the slope. If we were having thunderstorms I would watch the water flow with binocs to see how the rain water tracked down the slope. Made notes and after the storm went out and fixed any issues I saw. After the build I had only one area on the stream that water flowed into, had to build up the edge by a little to back slope away from the stream.

The slope from the house down I made it so the water would flow to the right or left not down into the pond.

The pea gravel path we put in washes down with hard rains, I just shovel the pea gravel back up. but it is doing what I planned, paths the water away from the pond.

part of our slope

 

[j.w]

Cat10

 

[cat10]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Been looking up every pic of ponds I can find for ideas. Im going to empty the pond (for the second time} to put a bottom drain in. I was going to put it in before but my son,( who is doing the digging) didn't want to cut the liner. I'll try to cut it and get rid of the shelf. I like the idea of putting in the drainage pipe and building the wall up as much as i can and putting some kind of barrier on the top and use some form of rock. going to stop at lowes to see what kind of groung cover they have that might look could. thank you and I'll let you all know how it goes.