I think it's a great idea to turn this into a raised bed! To me it looks like it is far enough from the house that it shouldn't present a problem.

And it's deep enough that you can leave the liner in and the plants will still get enough drainage. You won't be able to grow anything that requires deep roots such as a tree though.

Or you could remove the liner.

If I was doing this project I would use lengths of tree branches or logs, yard clippings and leaves to fill in about half of the depth then cover with nice soil. As the wood decomposes it will add nutrients into the soil and the open structure of it will allow the roots to really grow deep. I did this with an old reproduction steamer trunk as a planter in my garden. I had to top it up with soil each spring, but it was much less than filling it with soil from the start would have been, and it put that waste wood to good use.

disclaimer: I'm a farmer, not an avid gardener nor landscaper so we tend to view growing from a bit different perspective!!

Agree, remove the liner and see what’s underneath. Post photos.

I think that you must remove that liner. If you don't, it could rapidly become a fetid, anaerobic, mosquito factory.

remove liner

IMO remove the whole thing and do a nice raised bed garden away from the house far enough to avoid problemsThis is not very attractive as a garden anyway.

That’s a nice pond! I’d keep it just make it into a waterfall fountain. There is nothing special about a raised garden, but that pond with waterfall and a fountain is something special.

I'm with summersrhythm_z6a on this, however if you do opt for a garden, I would remove the liner and let it breathe, so to speak for a few weeks.

I would research rain gardens before you make a decision, you may find that of interest.

If you opt for a traditional raised bed, I would research "Hugelkultur", (like lindsey stated) you could easily fill in the void with old punky wood and yard waste reducing the cost of filling.

You cannot just plunk down a rain garden wherever and expect it to work. Siting of a rain garden is a rather critical factor and having one butt-up against the residence is NOT a good plan!

That's why I said "RESEARCH RAIN GARDENS"!!! And yes you can just PLUNK down a rain garden and expect it to work, it just requires some forethought. The same as installing swales.

For a small rain garden that close to a house, I dont see an issue, it just requires some PROPER planning.

Why not a water garden without the fish? Water lilies, bog iris, cattails, water hyacinths, water lettuce, ... visit a water garden nursery for lots of ideas.

We love the sound of a waterfall, so for us, this would be a perk.

Having had specialized rain garden design training for landscape professionals, I would emphatically disagree. One of the key components of any rain garden is siting it so that it is located where it will accept the bulk of the run-off from the property (its primary intent), which is hardly likely to happen when located next to the structure itself. And there is a 10' minimum distance requirement from any permanent structure, which this situation does not satisfy.

This is NOT the location for a rain garden!!

Oh here we go, another specialist.

There's no need to channel the bulk of the water to the rain garden and is definitely not a good idea in the OP situation.

I just put one in thats about a foot deep that is doing rather well.

Try to think in simpler terms, fill the thing in, leave a bit of a depression to catch some water and plant in it using the appropriate plants, thats it, folks that SPECIALIZE in something are always thinking too dam hard and can be a bit narrow minded... of course the OP doesn't want to channel the bulk of his rainwater to the structure of their house. A rain garden can be as simple as a depression in the front yard to catch a bit of water for slow release into the soil. Maybe its not scientifically defined as a TRUE rain garden, but similar principles apply such as retaining a bit of water.

Yes the OP can do a rain garden with a bit of planning regardless of your specialized rain garden design experience, just keep it simple.

I’d remove the whole thing If it were mine. In fact, I had one, sans waterfall, and I did just that, last year. Even if you could remove the inner parts and plant in it, you would have to climb in to weed and maintain, from the looks of it. And there is still the issue of water/dampness against the house.

is this something you want to walk around continuously? if so, make it a garden. if not, disassemble it and make the backyard how you like *before* spending time and energy and money on something in the wrong spot.

I am just wondering how old the pond is, if there hasn’t been an issues for many years, what’s the problem now? I believe a garden without water ( pond or fountain) is not a completed garden.

You got a nice pond there.

Sorry, but this IS a Landscape Design forum so it is somewhat expected that design professionals would offer professional or specialized advice.......that is afterall how we make a living.

A rain garden's intent is to absorb and disperse stormwater run-off from impervious surfaces. And generally that means directing the run-off to the rain garden via a slope, swale, or dry stream bed. So it makes NO sense (nor is it advised to have a water collection point) immediately adjacent to the structure!!

No problem, and I do see your point and I am sure there could be a safe way to install a "raingarden". My mini rain garden traps a small amount of water and is butt up against the patio and has been fine, it's very shallow at 12", The plants are doing well and drainage isn't too bad considering my hard clay.

I actually hate to see the OP remove the pond, it would make for a nice ornamental Koi pond.

Something to think about - koi are a lot of work. We love ours but only do it if you are prepared to keep up with it. A plant only water garden is a lot easier to maintain.

Hi... I have almost the same situation, although ours is a heavy plastic liner... and it is 3ft away from our house. I’d like to drill holes for drainage and plant a small vegetable herb garden. What did you end up doing?

Hi @HU-143801029 - We checked the side of the house that was next to the pond - it is a huge concrete very high and wide, so we just removed all the water, let it dry and filled it with dirt. Now it is a flat land ready for raised flower bed. But we have not planted any trees.

We did not drill drainage on the walls of the pond because we thought excess water will go on top of the bed or it'll go down to the ground just like anywhere on our backyard.

We are happy with that decision.

Good luck :)

Thank you!