I remember my attempts at pond building as a child. I dug a hole at the bottom of my parents garden and then ran back and forth for the best part of a day trying to fill it with water using a watering can. Of course, all the water would simply disappear into the earth and being no more than 7 years old, I had no idea why my pond wouldn’t hold the water like the ‘natural’ ponds I would see outside.

What I didn’t realise back then was the water would never stop soaking into the porous earth. Just like your sandcastle moats, without a liner water just drains away.

One of the fundamentals of pond construction is ensuring it is lined. Pond liner comes from a roll similar to a carpet so you would simply need to work out how much liner you need for the size of your new pond. Pond liner calculators are very handy for this task, you just need to get the depth, length & width of the pond.

Do I need Liner Underlay?

If you have quite a large pond construction project pond lining underlayis a must. Particularly when there is the possibility of the liner getting damaged by tree roots or sharp rocks!

You have the pond liner so what is next?

When you have put a liner in your pond and it is holding water there is more to do. The water musn’t become stagnant so you need to ensure it is renewed or filtered continuously. Your pond will almost certainly require a pond pump particularly if you intend to put fish in there! Choosing a pond pump, like liner, has a lot to do with the size of the pond. The pump must be powerful enough to pump and renew all the water in the pond within a certain time frame.

Had I known the correct way to construct a pond at 7 years old, I probably would have continued my quest. Alongside making mud pies that clearly nobody is going to eat. The race to return with another refill before the previous bucket of water disappeared into the ground along with soaking my parents kitchen was great fun!

It can be a daunting and confusing task choosing water feature pumps due to the variety of manufacturers, styles and sizes available. This is a breakdown of the various pumps available and how they are generally used.

Fountain pumps are the most common pumps available. The design of these pumps means you get a fountain in the centre of your pond or water feature. These pumps come with a variety of fountain jets and jet extensions so have a good look around for your desired effect.

Fountain Pump Tip: Do not use a fountain pump to power a filter system as this will lead to water clarity issues in the future.

Waterfall pond pumps have solids handling capabilities, this is so they can pump any free floating debris from the pool and pass it to a filter system, thus keeping your pond clear and free of debris. Most of these pumps will pump particles of up to 8mm in diameter including pebbles, fish waste and blanket weed.

Their solids handling capability means they do not block up very often, therefore maintenance can be reduced to a minimum.

Filter Pump Hint: If you want a fountain and filter system in your pond then add a fountain pump and a filter pump. The filter pump will remove the free floating debris to a filter , therefore the fountain pump shouldn’t block up.  

Garden water features can be all kinds of shapes, sizes and designs including custom made sculptures to a simple converted watering can. Feature pumps usually have a high pumping pressure while being small in design so are ideal pumps for water features. These are hardy pond pumps and can be positioned dry or in shallow waters.  

Water Feature Pump Tip: The pipe size you run the water through to the top of your water feature will have a deciding factor on which size pump to use. Narrow tubing causes massive restiction on pumps flow rates, therefore a larger pump than normal will be required, thus costing more money.