Garden Ponds are a great way to enjoy your California backyard
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Well begun, so they say, is half done. This old axiom certainly applies to pond construction. The design should be committed to paper and adhered to ; many a pond builder starts with a spade from the beginning and makes up the design as he goes along ; the result is rarely satisfactory.
Before the actual work starts it should be decided where the excavated soil is to be dumped, whether a rockery in another part of the garden is to be built with it or whether a rockery is to surround the pond. In any case the soil should be removed some distance from the actual scene of activities; it is surprising how a heap of soil hampers the work and spoils the perspective.
The shape of the pond may be pegged out or, if it is not too large, sheets of paper stuck together and cut to the required shape may be laid on the ground and the work gauged from that. In any case pegs should be driven into the ground at various points and a board placed across ; then, with a spirit level, it can be seen if the ground is level or not. This does not matter much with the informal pond, but it is essential with the formal type ; the water itself will be level, but if the rim of the pond is higher at one side than another a curious sloping effect that will spoil everything will result.
We will assume that we are to construct a circular pool twelve feet in diameter. A peg is driven into the ground in the centre of where the pond is to be and the looped end of a cord placed over the peg ; at the other end of the cord, six feet away, tie a knife or trowel.
