garden pond dilemma

[beaniedog]

my boyfriend has spent ages and ages digging out a garden pond in my tiny garden- it is about 10' long by 4' wide and about 4' deep- this has cost Me a fortune on skips etc. that was last summer- it is still not finished - ive been left with a massive hole in ground since and now....believe it or not, ive changed my mind and dont want a pond as i can see it being neglected and me nagging him to clean it out etc- also have little tiny dog so would have to fence it off - it alll seems to much aggro- what do you suggest- how much topsoil will i need to fill it up again????

[WendyS]

I don't know about how much topsoil you would need, but it sounds as if you might be left looking for a new boyfriend after all his worthless hard labours ! Also, if you live in the South of England, you probably won't be able to fill it with water for ages because of the imminent hosepipe ban. Getting topsoil for that area will be quite expensive. You could try contacting a few local landscape gardeners to see if any of them have surplus soil from their current gardening contracts that they might be willing to let you have which they might otherwise have to dump. Frankly, I'd stick with the pond idea and be patient until you can fill it. I know lots of people with dogs and ponds and the dogs all just ignore the water. You might find the wildlife which comes of its own accord to inhabit would give you a lot of pleasure.

[buildersmate]

By my reckoning you have dug out about 4.5 cubic metres of material - so that's what you need to replace it. You know really need to fill the whole soil with topsoil so if you can find some CLEAN rubble (no timber and other nonsense mixed in) you could partially fill with say 3 **.*. of this and top up the rest with soil.

Rubble weighs about 1.8 tonnes per **.*., loose top-soil about 1.5 tonees per **.*. Work out from this how much weight you need if your supplier quotes weight, but most will work by volume. Topsoil compacts about 25% from loose.

[buildersmate]

1st word in 3rd line should say 'don't', not 'know'

[buildersmate]

The asterisks were supposed to be abbreviations for 'cubic metres' - its amazing what the rude word checker pulls out

[vespaboy]

If you keep with the idea of a pond, plant it correctly and leave it it will mature into a haven for wild-life.

Your dog will ignore the pond (apart from having the occasional drink from it) and the pleasure you will get from the wildlife (Frogs, insects and birds are guaranteed) will be worth it in the long run.

If you can you should also try to get some kind of water movement by a pump, solar powered are quite cheap now. The sound is so relaxing.

[beaniedog]

thanks everyone for your answers - buildersmate thanks for quantities - i have now given said boyfriend one month to get finished or .....filling in and turfing over... we'll see if this gives him a bit of a push. Thanks all.