Where to Build a Backyard Garden Pond

You want a pond in your garden. You want fish and water lilies and a waterfall; you want to relax next to your pond after work and sip your tea.

You have seen many kinds of garden ponds while shopping around. You may have had a landscape architect or water-garden designer come to your house and give you an estimate that blew you away when you saw the price. So you have decided to build your own backyard garden pond. It can't be that hard. And it isn't. But there are a few things to think about before you go buy a shovel.

Designing your garden pond
When you are designing your pond, you must consider your lifestyle. Is it formal and you like catered, sit-down dinner parties for 16 in the garden? If so, you'll probably want a formal pond; a rectangle, circle or oval to fit in your formal garden. In this case, usually the pond is built from concrete, gunnite, masonry or tile. The formal pond usually holds a fountain or a piece of statuary. It may have fish, but probably not. It can be a reflecting pond or pool with a three-tier concrete or wrought-iron fountain in the center. You would care for a pond like this just as you care for your swimming pool, with chlorine to keep the water clean and clear.

If you like to have your friends over for outdoor barbecues and the thought of a sit-down dinner party for more than your own family is anathema to you, you will probably like a more informal pond.

Ponds that are informal, with rocks or boulders placed around the pond, are the ones you will love. A roaring waterfall or trickling stream might be the moving-water feature rather than a formal fountain.

Your pond might also be chlorinated, but it will most likely have vegetation and fish and be treated as a balanced ecosystem. The pond must fit your lifestyle.

What kind of pond is best for me?
After you determine your style, you must know what type of pond you will build. You have heard of koi and would like to have some. What most people don't know is the koi pond is a special type of pond and needs much filtration. It must be deeper than most other ponds, is treated like a very large outdoor aquarium and must be taken care of like one. The filters must be cleaned regularly, the koi must be fed daily, and most of the time, there is no vegetation growing because the koi will eat it....and they will eat it fast.

If you only want goldfish in your pond, your maintenance is less, but only if you don't feed your goldfish. If you do feed them, they will grow larger than the pond can support, keep having babies and sooner or later there will be a fish kill. To have a balanced ecosystem, and therefore the least maintenance, the goldfish must survive in the pond with existing vegetation, working daily for their room and board.

Where should I put my pond?
After you have decided on the style and type of pond you want, the location is the next most important factor to consider. I always recommend the pond be as close to the viewing area as possible. The pond and bog plants move in the breeze, the waterfall makes a delightful noise and the fish are colorful to watch. If the pond is in a far corner of the yard, chances are you will not enjoy it as much as if it is near a den or kitchen window, or even a bedroom window that can be left open in good weather.

Figure out what room of the house you spend the most time in and decide the location from there.

So before installing the pond, at least three things must be decided:

• Style
• Type
• Location

After you make these decisions, the rest is easy!

There's more
Always check with your local government to see if you need a building permit, and check with your insurance company to find out if your finished product requires special insurance. If digging is required, always check with your local utility companies to find out where wires, sewer or water pipes might be buried.