So You Want to Put a Pond In Your Yard? Read This First

Picture yourself on a hot day in your backyard. You can hear the distant sound of your neighbor mowing his enormous flat grass lawn, but it’s muffled by the sounds of water and birdsong and dragonflies zooming past your ear and the occasional plop of a frog, because you’re sitting stretched out in a lawn chair next to your very own pond. It’s a lovely thought, but before you grab a shovel, there are some things you need to know.

A pond "can really add a tremendous enhancement to your backyard," says Victoria Gough, lead designer at Texas-based LUSH Greenscape Design. It can attract birds and insects and provide a home for frogs and fish, hosting a vibrant ecosystem. "And obviously there’s aesthetic appeal—it creates this meditation area and calming environment." ("This kinda makes me want to install a pond myself," admits Gough.

"Just the sound of water makes you feel cool on a hot day," adds Ontario-based landscape designer Melanie Rekola. 

But where do you start? And more importantly, just how much maintenance are you signing up for here?

 Don't start digging

Obviously, you can’t just dig a hole in your backyard, toss in the hose, and fill her up. In its simplest form, a pond requires a liner, a filter, and a properly sized pump to keep the water circulating rather than stagnant. And you'll also want to consider the environment where you live and whether or not adding a pond will be disruptive or helpful. 

Gough estimates the smallest you’d likely want to go is 10 feet by 10 feet. Any smaller and you’re setting yourself up for more maintenance—more on that in a moment—and you’ll need room around that, too: "You definitely want ample sunlight and extra space around the perimeter of the pond so you can have walking paths or a patio," says Gough. From there, you can go as big as you want.

In terms of the form, it’s really a matter of personal preference. The stereotype of the backyard pond is probably the koi pond. But it’s certainly not the only option. For instance, Rekola often takes a more Scandi or modern approach to her water features generally; you can also lean into a shaggier, more natural look. It’s about the space you’re working with and your own style.

Costs can vary widely depending on your project and your local market, and they can be significant: "A lot of people want one, and when they realize the cost, it’s one of the first things to get cut out," says Rekola. She offered the example of a sleek rectangular pond she built herself with a stepping stone across it, which was in the $25,000 range (in Canadian dollars), including materials, labor, plants, and a wall behind it. But simpler ponds could be less. The important thing is to do your research: "It’s the wild west out there when it comes to landscape installations," says Rekola. "It varies so much. Get three quotes on everything."

Consider your space and your climate 

Ponds are like any other type of home improvement project: You can do almost anything, if you’re open to the hassle and the cost. 

But there are a million small factors that will shape your specific project: the size and topography of your lot, whether you live in a cold climate, if you live in a mosquito-prone area and need to disrupt the surface of the water more, whether you have small kids or pets that could stumble into the water.

"If you have a lot of trees in your backyard, you might have to take some down, because you need proper sunlight infiltration for the plant life to grow and the whole food web to be successful," explains Gough. If your lot is heavily forested and you want to keep it that way, you might not want a pond. And the flip side of the fact that ponds attract wildlife is you’ll have to be considerate of your visitors; Rekola specifically mentions that modern water features need floating plants in them, or else animals can easily stumble into them and drown. 

"I think that a yard with level changes lends itself particularly well to water features," she adds.

Your climate will be a factor, too. If you live in a place that freezes, you certainly can have a pond, but it’ll require winterizing it, much like you would a pool. Depending on how far north you live, that could mean building with freeze-grade materials or draining it outright come wintertime.

A word about fish  

Once you’ve got the pond itself, it’s time to fill it. Here you’ve got a fair amount of latitude, based on your personal taste and style of your pond, as well as where you’re located. You don’t actually have to include fish in your pond; in fact, if your pond is too small, it won’t support them and it would make it very difficult to maintain healthy water quality. But for a sizable population of people with ponds, the fish are the entire point. (As one trade publication puts it: "Fishkeeping is not a hobby, it’s a disease.") 

You will generally want plants, however, because they help filter and oxygenate the water in your pond and help you maintain and keep it healthy. The important thing is to steer clear of anything invasive; consider using native plants specifically. 

The bigger your pond, the more (and more species of) plants and fish you can add: "You can start building different shelving and terracing so you can allow different plant species to grow because different aquatic plants require different depths," Gough explains. "It can just get a little more diverse and naturalized." A bigger pond also offers more room for water-filtering plants.

Be prepared to keep a close eye on it 

A healthy pond exists in a state of balance, with enough oxygen and nutrients to sustain life. Too many nutrients (from overfeeding your fish or fertilizer runoff from the surrounding area, for example) and you get algae overgrowth, which gobbles all the oxygen and chokes out everything else. A process called "eutrophication" sets in, and your pond turns green. You’ll want to catch any signs of eutrophication quickly (increased algae growth, fish dying off, bad smells, a generally scummy look, to name a few) so it’s wise to keep a close eye on your pond and respond quickly. And don’t overfeed your fish (which creates more fish poop, which creates more algae).

It might seem a little ironic, but bigger ponds are actually likely to be less work: "I think you need to go big if you want it to be low-maintenance," says Rekola. "Small ponds are a lot more maintenance than large ponds, because of the natural balance of the water." In other words, it’s more work to keep your small pond from spinning out into algae overgrowth. They can still work, but they’re more effort: "I find the best thing is to drain around ten percent of the water. I would use that water to water my plants and then put new water in," she adds. You might also spend more time doing things like mucking out the bottom.

It’s also a question of style—a more naturalized version pretty much wants to do its thing without much interference. "Ponds are completely natural and have been around and evolving for all of earth’s history," points out Gough. Leaning into that, with a bigger pond with a good diversity of native plant species where you’re more focused on letting it cook than achieving a formal, curated look, will be less work.

Consider a bio swimming pool 

If you have the space to go big, you might consider a bio swimming pool. It’s a sort of cross between a traditional swimming pool and a pond, but rather than chemicals or a plastic filter, it uses both plants and physical elements like sand and gravel for filtering the water.

"The biopool I think is a really cool modern approach," says Gough. "It’s just amazing that it can also create a really deep sensory interaction, transforming it from this more aesthetic pond to this more functional—and you can actually experience the pond."

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re not feeling a full-on pond, Rekola recommends something smaller scale, like a water bowl, which doesn’t require any sort of filter or pump and could be emptied every few days, refilled, and cleaned easily. Alternatively, your space may be friendlier to a rain garden, with plantings chosen specifically for their ability to soak up excess water. 

Is this a DIY project? 

There are certainly online projects about DIYing your own pond, but I walked away from reporting this piece pretty skeptical of my own ability to tackle such a thing. "If it was a DIY thing, I’d get a water bowl or a water fountain," says Rekola, which are easier to set up and maintain.

But if you’re determined, Gough says that she knew several people growing up in Louisiana who installed ponds in their backyard; she helped her best friend’s dad install a koi pond growing up, in fact. "Honestly, you could just go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and get all these materials and get the pump, as long as you do your research," she says. You might want to start small depending on your skill and experience level, but it’s entirely possible. Is it the best idea? Well, that’s between you, God, and your local regulatory apparatus. Choose wisely.

Top image by Jackal Pan / Getty Images

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