A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 help!!! need advice for my pond

2 years ago I put a pond in my backyard.(two ponds attached by a waterfall with another waterfall on the top pond) estimated diameter of the pond is 10'x 16'. My husband and his friend used a bobcat to dig the holes. They got in hurry to get it done and dug the bottom hole to close to the patio(6"s to 1'in places)
So last year I drained the bottom hole and now I'm stumped as to how I should go about fixing it. Does anyone have any ideas about how I should fill in the pond so I have a little more distance between patio and pond? Also they neglected to put in ledges for plants.
HELP!

If I had a photo of it I could show it to my husband and he could answer the question.
He's a backhoe, dozer, excavation guy.
Got a digital camera?

I don't quite understand what you want to do. Is there a liner in the pond or is it just ground? How deep is it? You can use inverted pots or bricks and rocks to give a rim around the pond.

To be more specific-I drained the pond last fall and I want to build shelves for plants and hopefully make more of a ledge between patio and pond. I will be eternally grateful for any advice or suggestions to help me do it right this time. Be warned its just a whole in the ground. msn groups

My suggestion is to dig the area next to the patio down a little more to level it out. Once you do that gets some flat stones and build it up with them. After you have the ledge as high, level and wide as you want it cover the rocks with sand and then some carpet padding or something to protect your liner. It is the only idea I have. What ever you use make sure it can't/won't hurt your liner.

gardencrazy

Thanks for your ideas, Whatever I do I'm gonna have to do it soon, I just won and auction on aquabid.com for 6 koi and 6 shubunkin goldfish, and they were delivered yesterday.

Haven't had a chance to show thoses photos to Andy, but I already know what he would say.
"Build some forms and pour some concrete!"
Since that usually isn't a feasible option for those of us who work/play in our yards with whatever we can get our hands on, I go along with the others who say rocks. I am a rock FREAK! I have built rocks walls, steps, paths, borders, etc. all over this place. If I see a big rock on the side of the road I stop and get it!
(I saw some NICE ones in the background of your pictures!)

Most of the nice rocks I have were on the top pond in my waterfall, it went all the way around the top of the pond(about 6 feet).
I guess if I look on the bright side I get to rearrange my waterfall rock formation. I will post work in progress pics if anyone wants to see?????

please do!