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Water features

jamesholtjamesholt Posts: 593
in Garden design
Is a plastic liner necessary for a pond or rill?
«13

Posts

  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Butyl rubber will be much better than plastic.
    Rutland, England
  • jamesholtjamesholt Posts: 593
    Can I do it without any liner?  My water table is only about two feet below ground level?
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    If you're prepared to have the level go up and down, possible dry out in summer? 
    Your garden,your money,  your choice. :)
    Devon.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Water will soak into teh ground and also evaporate in warm weather so, if you really don't want to invest in decent butyl lining and the protective layer it will need below to protect it from stones, you will need to dig the pond deeper than the water table height so you always have some water and plant a screen around it to hide how ugly it will look as it dried out in summer.  You will also need to keep it cleared of plants like yellow flag and bull rush that will try and terraform it.

    We had such a pond dug for drainage (with a bulldozer) in our last garden and this new one, also an ex farmhouse, has one that was dug to provide water for cattle.  We've had to get a mini bulldozer in to clear it of brambles, bull rush, goat willows, self sown ash and other horrors but even so some bull rush survived.

    This, 

    became this - after some rain!

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @holt120 for what reason do you not want a liner? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • jamesholtjamesholt Posts: 593
    Lyn I dont know why I want a liner but monty don put one in so I'm assuming there is a very good reason for the expense.  I just didn't know what it was?
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    edited January 2020
    We’ve got this, brown side up because we preferred it that way, that’s up to you, but it’s not expensive,  well, I suppose it could be if you wanted a really large pond.🙂
    they calculate how much you need, allowing for overhang and depth.
    Was easy to lay and sits on the shelf margins nicely.

    https://www.bradshawsdirect.co.uk/pondkraft-polyex-pond-liners-with-free-underlay-and-lifetime-guarantee



    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It keeps the water where you want it and stops the till from becoming a muddy ditch. 
    If the water table was high enough to stop the water draining away your garden would already be a bog ... which I presume it’s not. 
    😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • jamesholtjamesholt Posts: 593
    It's almost a bog.  I have two feet of soil before water.  I didn't realize why many of the trees I planted were having such a hard time until I started moving them. I now only plant trees in this area that like water.  Pond Cyprus. Bald Cyprus river birch. Cotton wood
  • jamesholtjamesholt Posts: 593
    Dove I have considered what you have said and agree with what you have recommended.  I will place a liner
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