Pond

George2019

Afternoon all, I am a newbie to here, thanks to Santa for the Christmas present of a yearly subscription to the magazine and a keen gardener (however lack any knowledge of plants).

I am after some kind words of advice regarding a pond in our garden.

We recently moved into our new house with a large garden and a blank canvass!!

The previous owners had cut out a drainage ditch that leads to a pond they dug out and put pond liner on etc etc. (they did make a rather awful job of it). The Pond is situated in what was a very overgrown wooded part of the garden. Some sapling trees have been removed to let some light into the pond and area. We live in a rather wet / heavy clay area.

The Pond was a mess and full of silt and rubbish, so I thought I would empty it and clear all the rubbish out to start again. Upon doing this I noticed that the Pond liner felt like a water bed. So I pulled some of it away and noticed there was another pond under the liner.

I have completely removed the liner and within a couple of days it naturally filled up and thus has improved the drainage of the surrounding area as the water has somewhere to go.

I have left the felt in the pond (as if filled up to quickly to get a chance to remove it).

So my question is:

What do I do with it? What should I do with the felt?

In my head, I am thinking I should leave the felt in, then at least I can dredge it so to speak every few years.

Also are there any plants that I can add that are NON invasive to the pond that will help clear the water naturally, so it does not end up looking like a muddy puddle?

I hope the above makes sense and any ideas, thoughts etc would be most appreciated.

hogweed

The pond will eventually settle so just give it time and it should clear of its own accord. You don't say how big the pond is - is it huge? You may find in a dry summer without the liner that it will dry out quite quickly. Perhaps that is why they lined it?

Posy

Yes, it may be a winter pond without the liner . I think you may need to think carefully about whether you LIKE the pond, whether it provides useful drainage in a wet area and whether you would rather rethink the whole thing. I would tidy things up a bit and then wait and see what happens in the spring and summer before deciding what to do. The water you have should clear naturally unless it is shallow and stagnant OR there is mud being washed in every time it rains.

Fairygirl

I think you'll have to wait and see how it looks over the next  six months or so. It sounds like the previous owners wanted a pond that would naturally fill itself by utilising excess water from other parts of the garden.
You may have to reinstate a liner as I'd think the felt layer will just rot away and cause further problems. As Posy says - water and debris feeding in regularly may simply mean it'll just be a muddy, stagnant reservoir for excess rainwater, rather than a decent pond. 

At my last house, we renovated a second pond which was fed by the bigger main one. It was  filled by a spring feeding in, and any run off from the second one simply fed out into the boundary of the garden and eventually onto the verge outside. The small pond was completely choked with all sorts of debris, and it thrived after the tidy up. It was a bit shallow, but it was in the open, which helped too.
Ponds benefit from plenty of light, so it may be harder to keep yours healthy if there's lots of trees etc overhead and nearby.
Have you any photos of the general area? That would help with advice too   

George2019

Hi,

Thanks for the comments I will get a photo once all the snow melts.

The problem with the line was that had water in, however there was a pond underneath it as the natural water level filled it up and has over time by the looks of it pushed the liner up. 

So the other option was not to keep it and put some drainage pipes in and let the water run off naturally, the only problem is it is a very deep hole in the ground.

Guernsey Donkey2

The fact that trees are growing nearby would deter me from renewing the pond here George - you will always have a problem with light, roots and leaves falling into the water which isn't a good thing - they will sink to the bottom, decompose and leave a thick sludge on the bottom of the liner.  Photos would be much appreciated, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

madpenguin

Instead of a pond could the area be turned into a bog garden?

George2019

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I am sorry for the delay in getting these posted (the joy of night shifts). Here are three photos of the pond. As you can see all that is left is the felt underlay. 

As I have mentioned the when I removed the liner there was another pond underneath it and since taking it out the pond filled up naturally ( not from the ditch) and since doing so the ground around it is a lot drier as the water in the ground has managed to naturally drain into the pond.

We live in a heavy clay based ground, so I was wondering if I should take out the felt and just have it as a natural pond as underneath the felt is pure clay.

madpenguin said:

Instead of a pond could the area be turned into a bog garden?

Madpenguin, I am interested in a bog pond, what does that entail exactly?

Guernsey Donkey2 said:

The fact that trees are growing nearby would deter me from renewing the pond here George - you will always have a problem with light, roots and leaves falling into the water which isn't a good thing - they will sink to the bottom, decompose and leave a thick sludge on the bottom of the liner.  Photos would be much appreciated, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I have cleared a lot of the trees (young saplings) so it now gets a lot of natural sunlight.

hogweed

Now that I have seen it I would be inclined to take out the felt and just leave it for a year to see what happens - will it dry out in the summer etc. And I think it will look slightly more attractive and natural with the felt out. 

George2019

hogweed said:

Now that I have seen it I would be inclined to take out the felt and just leave it for a year to see what happens - will it dry out in the summer etc. And I think it will look slightly more attractive and natural with the felt out. 

Thank you, I am inclined to do the same, there is a lot more work that needs to be done around it so I am not going to loose anything by leaving it and seeing what happens, at least i will get a good work out removing the felt. Whats the worst that can happen ( apart from falling in) is that I end up having to put the felt and liner back in.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions

George2019

Hi all,

I thought I would give an update re the pond.

It has not dried up during the summer and is still self filling. So I am just going to leave it as a whole in the ground.