- 1). Plan the pond carefully. The main difference in building a pond between the front yard and back yard is that a front yard pond will be open to passers-by. Anyone who wants to can come up and take a look, including accident-prone toddlers, neighborhood dogs and other wandering creatures. Keep the pond shallow, and don't plan on stocking any fish.
- 2). Check with your municipality or neighborhood association about water features in your front yard. If your yard isn't fenced, you might need to put up some kind of safety barricade to cordon off your water feature.
- 3). Keeping the above factors in mind, decide whether you will be using a pond liner or a preformed pond. Preformed liners have the advantage that you can custom dig the pond to whatever shape you want, while preformed liners are made out of very durable material that will last even longer than pond liners.
- 4). Dig the pond. If using a rigid liner, the shape of the hole will already be set for you. Measure the rigid liner to see how deep, wide and long your hole needs to be. When using flexible pond liner, the shape of your pond is up to you. First, first mark out the shape you want for your pond in the ground with rope or string. Then, using the that piece of string that you just laid out on the ground as your guide, dig your pond. The depth will depend on the type of plants you want to stock. Lillies, for example, need at least a foot of water in order to thrive.
- 5). Fill the pond with water. If using a flexible liner, do this slowly, straightening out the liner as it fills to avoid kinks. Be sure to add decholorinator.
- 6). Add any water features such as fountains or waterfalls. Turn these on.
- 7). Add any plants.