Backyard Pond Best DIY Ideas for You

If you belong to the lucky few that are blessed with a space for a pond in their backyard, you have probably wondered how you can make it look stylish and presentable. The first idea that usually comes to mind is purchasing a ready project and only doing the work required to install it.

One of the biggest problems with readymade backyard additions, enhancements and decorations is the fact that they are just ridiculously expensive. Some people might argue that the owner of a house with a backyard pond does not need to care about frugality.

That is why they most probably won’t be able to own a house like that in the future — amassing wealth means keeping track of your money and not spending it recklessly, for example on backyard improvements that you could easily make yourself, at half the cost. Even if you don’t care about saving money, opting to build a backyard pond from the ground up gives you the freedom to design it by yourself, thus making the space truly your own.

You will need to invest in technical stuff, such as pond tubing and all the necessary tools, most of which you probably already own. Don’t settle down for generic projects and oversimplified ideas of how a backyard should look, conceived by burnt out, corporate project managers, who imagine the perfect pond from the fiftieth floor of an office building in downtown Manhattan.

To help you in the process, we’ve prepared a list of cool and inspiring DIY ideas to fire up your imagination.

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Container Ponds

These little bundles of joy are perfect for those of you with limited backyard space — a container pond can sometimes be small enough to make it work on an apartment balcony!

To successfully complete this project, you will need a large flower pot, or any other ceramic container — the bigger it is, the more spectacular will your pond look, but the size is entirely dependent on your preference. The only requirement is that it’s  big enough for you to grow plants in.

That’s it! Besides water (duh!), the only other additional materials needed to finish up your brand new container pond are plants of your own choosing and decorative elements!

Rock covered pond

That one might take some digging, so best get your shovel ready! You’ve certainly seen those rocky ponds and pools on TV, presented as an expression of a lavish lifestyle. Actually, this kind of a backyard addition is neither expensive nor difficult to create. Your most important tools will be a shovel and loads of time on your hands. If you want to get it done in one go, you need to get ready for a whole day of work.

The first step would be to dig up the actual pond — once again, the size is entirely up to you and the capacity of your backyard. Rock covered ponds can actually benefit from being smaller in size, since it enables you to use less rocks to make the entire construction seem richer and more complete.

Next, all you’ve got to do is fill the ditch up with water and surround it with rocks. Your creativity is the only limiting factor of what stones you’ll use and how many you’re going to use. Generally, river rock looks best in those types of ponds due to its color and irregular shape.

Linerless pond

People are very outspoken about environmental issues nowadays. In fact, more people than ever consider the climate crisis as the most pressing issue of our times.

If you’re an eco-friendly person and you want your backyard pond to reflect your views, you should consider building a linerless pond. Its construction is very minimal and you can get it done in a matter of hours, depending on the size of the project.

The key difference between a linerless pond and other iterations is the fact that it does not require a liner at the bottom of your pond that will keep the water from sinking into the soil. It is replaced with bentonite clay, which effectively keeps your pond from leaking.

Other than the clay — there are no additional costs. Of course, you might want to purchase pretty stones and decorative gravel to pimp out your new pond. Although it would be much more ecological and in the do-it-yourself spirit, if you went out and found your decorative elements out in nature. You could even get your kids involved, which would make for a fun and memorable family time!

Get digging!

Hopefully these backyard pond ideas listed above have inspired you to go out and dig up a little water reservoir of your own! Ponds are great fun and make for a very cool hobby. Especially if you want to get into gardening but don’t want to stick to the old, boring veggie garden that everyone and their mother have taken a shot at.

Photo by bady abbas on Unsplash

Written by Maciej Grzymkowski