What about turning it into a pondless water feature?

Dear Karen,

A landscaper can give you a quote on how much to fill it in for you. If you have fish then you can net them when you drain the pond and put them in a kiddie pool with some aeration. Give them away on Craigslist or Freecycle.

Regards,

Lisa

Have you thought about putting a fence around it? I put one around mine when the grandkids started walking. Eventually the fence can come down. Might be cheaper than getting rid of it not to mention less backbreaking if you're going to fill it in yourself. I can't imagine not having a pond anymore.

Thanks for these - the fence wouldn't really work as it's a pretty small pond and we have 5 kids under 7, will probably have more, and all of our friends have little ones. It doesn't have a liner - we drained it and it's cement on the bottom. Now every time it rains it fills back up! Is our only choice to take a sledgehammer to it? How can we fill it in otherwise?

Thanks so much for your help.

Maybe you could do something like fill it almost full with pea gravel and keep aquatic plants in it. Just keep it topped off with water.

There has to be something you could do instead of getting rid of it.

Anyone else thinking what I am thinking? Where are all the regular ponders on this one. And yes, I think a sledge hammer would work... Glenda

You will need to punch holes or otherwise crack the bottom into pieces. Even if you fill it in as it rains it will accumulate water in there keeping it pretty wet. Plus, leaving the layer there (even if it's down more than 3-4 feet) will stop or inhibit any shrubs or trees from sending down roots ... specially if they're the type that sends down a tap root. A sledge hammer will work but you might find it much easier to rent an electric jack hammer. While a bit heavy to lug around they are easy to operate and would make very short work of breaking up the concrete.
---David

MAke a pondless water feature as others have said. Really easy, simple, and safe for kids. Kids can walk right on it, it is like a 24/7 sprinkler for them.

Basically, you get some heavy duty steel mesh and lay it over the pond. Secure the edges with boulders, and put smaller stones around the middle. Your pond beneath the mesh is still full of water but hidden, your pump is down in the pond. You run the pump tube up, and through a fountain, a bored stone, whatever, and it creates a waterfall or a bubbling stone or whatever, and that is that. You still have the water, but it isn't any more hazardous than a rain storm.

http://www.cascadestonesupply.com/PDFs/pondless_water_feature.pdf

http://paradisepatiosaz.com/images/water_feature_pondless_fountain_j.jpg

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/gr_lawns_landscaping/article/0,2029,DIY_13852_5493753,00.html

http://www.safegardening.co.uk/DesigningWaterFeature.html

Glenda - I think the regular ponders are shocked at the thought of getting rid of a pond! But I think Karen expected that.
Karen, my suggestion since it's small and concrete is to turn it into a planter. Fill it with good stuff, maybe some gravel in the bottom and plant it with annuals or shallow rooted perennials allowing you to dig it back out in the future and save your back now. I'd do a bog garden with pitcher plants if it were me. Over watering would be less of a problem.
Vanessa