It's good you want to build a garden pond.

Let us help you through the thinking process to build the best pond area for your garden.

Is your new pond for wildlife, aquatic pond plants, as a focal point or for fish?

Why you want to build a pond in your garden will influence the site you choose for your pond and its style within the garden:

• A wildlife pond will be a more informal shape and further down the garden in a quiet area surrounded by planting.
• Swimming ponds allow you to join the wildlife in the water habitat you have created.
• A fish pond is likely to be a more formal shaped pond, possibly raised up not dug down, and near the house for the electricity supply.

Other considerations when building a pond:

1. Safety

• A raised pond may be safer for children but not so good for amphibians.
• You can purchase an ornate pond cover made in steel that will allow plants to grow underneath and through it and wildlife to have access to the water.
• It will give an edge for an older or infirm person to sit on when working on the pond.

2. Electricity

• For pumps, filters, waterfalls or fountains.
• Employ a registered electrician and lay the electric cable early in the dig.
• Choose solar if possible.

3. Avoid underground services

• Sewers, pipes, cables! Find their route first.

4. Shade

• The garden pond should not be in the shade of trees to avoid leaf fall into the water.
• Siting a garden pond in part shade from a building allows the water to remain cooler and the pond is less likely to have algae bloom.
• Plant a shaded pond with foliage interest plants - structural shaped foliage, seed heads and some flowering plants.
• Waterlilies & Iris need more sun to flower well.

Next: Think about the detail of the pond design before building it including your pond size and shape.