Our Cheap Duck Pond

My Pond

I had not realised, that I was yet to write about my lovely pond.

My mum had given me a little 3 tier waterfall a while ago. So I had installed them myself and surrounded them with some calla lilies I had hiding in the back on my yard. But I really wanted to make it bigger after a while, so I set out to add a 4th tier.

Firstly I marked out where I wanted to put it using a spray can and then we dug it out. This took a few days and created heaps of extra dirt. We shovelled the dirt into our trailer and posted an add for free dirt on our local buy/swap/sell site. I had it gone within the day which was a blessing.

Next I was given the best advice by a friend. She told me to line the pond with some old carpet so the plastic does not rip between the rocks and pressure of the water (Thanks Andy) I obtained the carpet by simply posting another add on the same site, in search of some carpet. I was lucky enough to have a lady who was about to throw some out. So far, the only cost we have had, was the pump which cost under $50.

I wasn't happy with the shape once we put the carpet in, so we dug a sort of shelf which made it a little wider.

The next step was to line it with some plastic, to keep the water in. This cost me around $75 from Bunnings.

We needed two people to pull and open the plastic up, as it was quite stiff. Then we positioned it in the hole, keeping in mind that there needs to be some slack, to give way for the water. Meaning, don't pull it tight around the pond. Leave extra in the middle, otherwise you may put a hole in it with the rocks. I hope that makes sense. Sorry if it didn't.

We then went on a hunt for rocks around the area we live in. This was easily found, but took some time to collect. It can get quite heavy on your car / trailer if you do it all in one trip, so I would advise to do it gradually. We had friends who were moving that donated rocks also. Then in true masonry form, we started to pile them into the pond.  This was fun, for the more we added, the more we could see the pond take form. We then filled it with water, with the help of our two year old of course. After it was full to the desired height, I cut the extra plastic around the outside and covered the edges of it with more rocks. 

The same friend who gave us the rocks also gave us some extra calla lilies. They were flowering, which was lovely and just gave it that extra little touch. So total cost for the pond was under $130  :o)

Since then, we have added some gold fish, but I'm not too sure if I will leave them in there, for I think my ducks may think of them as a tasty treat once they are older.