Use Pavers to Make a Modern Water Feature

If you want to break up your lawn and attract wildlife to your garden, there’s no better way to do it than a pond or water feature. They’re surprisingly easy to make for something that increases desirability and creates so much entertainment throughout the year. You don’t even need to add fish to watch squirrels, birds, and even frogs playing and running around your garden.

Using paving slabs or kerbing/edging around your pond is a great way to give it a more modern look and keep the edges safe and stable. Rocks and plants provide more interest and anchor the pond to the rest of your garden so that it complements its surroundings rather than standing out. It’s a good weekend project if you don’t mind a bit of digging!

This example from The Garden Glove uses a solar-powered pump to move the water around, but there’s no need to go quite that high-tech. These are the easy steps to digging out a simple garden pond.

1. Decide where your pond will go and measure out the area: if you want to add plants to your pond, it’s important to make sure that it’s in the sunlight so they can thrive. You can either use a pre-made plastic container to stop the water from draining out of your pond, or a plastic liner which means you can decide the size and shape yourself. If you’re using a container, just trace around it to make a dip in the soil and dig that out. If you’re using a liner, make sure that you factor the depth into your sizing, since the liner will need to cover the bottom of your pond and go up the sides.
2. Dig out your pond: this is hardest part of the project (especially if you have clay soil or lots of rocks) so it’s worth asking someone to help. Dump your soil in a wheelbarrow or elsewhere in the garden – if you’re planning to make raised planters at some point, it’s a good idea to keep your soil so you don’t need to buy much filler.
3. Line your pond: put your container into the hole you dug out, or use your liner to cover the soil in your pond. Make sure your liner overlaps the edges by around a foot – your pavers will hide it and weigh it down so that it doesn’t fall into the pond and let water drain out later. You may want to put some rocks on the bottom of your pond, especially if the container is light and needs to be camouflaged.
4. Add pavers or stones to the edges of your pond: the design and arrangement is entirely up to you. Natural stone pavers can link the pond to your patio, or concrete pavers give it a sleek, modern look without spending too much. You can mix it up with pebbles or chippings as well.
5. Add plants: if you want to add plants to your water feature, make sure that the rim of the plant pot sits just under the surface.
6. Fill your pond with water!