Entretien et conseils
suivant les saisons

Construction step by step and in pictures Step 1 - Chose the site for the water garden and draw its shape. The perimeter of the pond is outlined with a garden hose. The stones are there only to better bring out the shape (photo 1). Once the final placement is chosen, the stones are left in place to outline the desired shape. (photo 2)     Stage 2 - Dig the surface of the pond to the depth of the blade of the spade. This is the hardest part (roots, stones, debris...) .   Stage 3 - Keep digging, but this time in graded levels to give the biological garden all the chances possible to reach its biological balance. This technique allows for growing the plants in baskets placed at different levels depending on the types chosen. For the fish, a deeper portion of a minimum one meter will ensure their survival in winter. On the other hand the shallower level (+/- 40 cm) will allow both water and fish to warm-up more quickly.     Some tips: While digging, take care to keep the water garden levelled. Locate the edge at the highest level of the ground and adjust the rest of the pond according to the lay of the land. The slightest difference will be clearly noticeable once the pond is filled with water and its appearance will be less natural . Once you have completed the different levels it is imperative that you remove all the visible roots, as well as the stones however small they may be.   Stage 4 - Coat the entire surface with a mixture of sand from the Rhine and cement. This not only improves the protection against roots, stones and rodents but also facilitates the placement of the liner without crumbling the sand.   Stage 5 - For more security, the ideal is to place an extremely resistant, rot proof felt geotextile cover as a buffer right before the installation of the liner.   Stage 6 - The liner is placed over the felt, moulding it to the forms of the pond and to its depth. It must be +/- 50 cm s larger all around since the liner will retract during the filling to eventually take its final form with the pressure of the water. Everything is in place, time to fill the pond with a water hose. Town water is best, since rain stored in a cistern is polluted and can be harmful to the fish.   Remember to take the reading on your water meter before filling the pond in order to know the volume in m³. That information can be very useful in case you need to treat the water; for some kind of contamination which causes your fish to be sick, for example.