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How To Build A Pond In A Box

Pond-in-a-box planted with lavender and pansies

I think I came up with the idea of building a pond-in-a-box or raised bed out of desperation. The narrow front garden near the front door of our previous house was un-gardenable and unsightly due to a deep mess left behind by the house builders.

I really wanted to have something beautiful by the front door where we could enjoy it every day. The pond was originally installed in two different locations in the back garden but that made it hard to check on it during the winter months. The front garden was an ideal location both for enjoying it and making sure the fish were fine each day.

Before you install any pond, you have consider safety. Where we lived, it was legal to install anything less than two feet deep. Beyond that, it is absolutely not worth the risk if you have any little kids in the neighborhood who may be tempted to come play with the water. Our only visitors were cats who thought they could fish. But couldn't. So ha! to them.

I had long resisted the idea of raised beds in the garden at all but when I finally tried some, I was converted. They are a great antidote to poor growing conditions and provide extra warmth and protection for vegetables. For the pond, the raised beds made it much easier to access everything for maintenance like cleaning the pump and adjusting the plants as they grew.


My first water lily

VEGGIE TIP: A farmer told me that rabbits won't jump into something they cannot see, so I built my raised beds taller than a standard rabbit's head. And it worked! Despite a huge bunny population, they never ventured into my raised veggie beds. The squirrels, however, are another story, although they just seemed to want to bury things there, not eat anything. (?)



I planted both annuals and perennials around the pond

Here's some Pond-In-A-Box 101
I used a prefab pond form but a pond liner could work as well. You'll need to plan for the raised bed to be as tall or taller than your pond is high.
You can bury the pond part way in the ground or have the whole thing sit on top of the ground.
In my case, the ground was so hard to dig (due to dumped cement leftovers) that I opted to go on top.
You need enough extra soil to fill in all the spaces between the pond form and the sides of the box (raised bed).
You also need access to a proper (ground fault protected) outdoor electrical outlet to run a small circulating pond pump all year round. You can learn more about this in my Pond How-Tos listed below.

It's a fish eat fish world
Raised Bed Building Supplies

Wood
I used 2"x2"x4' wooden spikes (8 of them). These are regular 2x2s: I have the guys at the shop cut the ends into spikes so they're easy/easier to drive into the ground.
Choose your lumber to match the size of your pond form and the wood available where you are. My pond was just under 4x6', which works perfectly with 8' lumber to create a 4x8' raised bed.
I always use untreated lumber because I don't want the poisons from pressure treated lumber in my garden near wildlife or veggies if I can avoid it.
I used eight 8' long x 8" wide x 2" thick pieces of wood. I had the shop guys cut two pieces in half for the short sides. In other words, four 8x8's form the long sides, and four 4x8' pieces form the short sides. (I prefer 1" thick lumber but I couldn't find any for this project.)



Other Supplies
Deck screws (size depends on the thickness of the lumber you get)
Electric drill and drill bit and screwdriver bit (to predrill holes and insert screws)
Level
Pencil
Sledge hammer to drive spikes into ground
Circulating pump appropriate for your pond size (usually 250-500 gallons for small pond forms)
Pond plants
Bricks to support the pond plant containers at the right level in the water.
Fish (but not yet). I use 'feeder' gold fish from the pet store.
See Advice for starting a new garden pond below
Assembly
Assemble one 4x8' box, simply attaching all corners together with deck screws. Predrill the holes first so nothing splits.
Place this first box where you want it in the garden, and then drive in the 8 evenly-spaced 2x2x4 support spikes (inside the box) as deep as they can go, using the box as placement guide. Four of these spikes occupy the inner corners of the box. The other 4 will support the long sides. You can see them in my photos.
When the spikes are in all the way, screw box #1 in place, to the spikes. Use the level to make sure it's perfect on all four sides. A crooked box is not a thing of beauty. Don't worry if there's a gap between the bottom of the box and the ground: you'll be filling it with soil later.
Assemble box #2 and then place it on top of box #1, to form a double raised bed. Check it with the level before attaching it to the spikes.
Saw off the spikes to be level with the tops of the sides.

Testing to see if the pond form works in this location
Next
Insert the pond form.
Fill in the gaps in the box with soil. Remove any soil that falls into the pond.
Figure out how you want to arrange to circulating pump and filter.
Add water.
Wait a few days for the chlorine to off-gas before adding water plants.
Add plants to the soil around the pond.
It's best to wait 2-3 weeks before adding fish to make sure everything is running fine and to give the pond a chance to become pondy. You want there to be some natural food available for the fish (i.e. good pond scum etc.). The fish are, of course, optional.

Winter pond with floating pond heater (not recommended)
Winter
So long as you keep the water circulating all winter long, the fish survive. They simply go dormant in cold water.
One year I used a floating pond heater but I found it was too warm and caused some excessive algae growth.
The next years I just used the regular pond pump and placed it right at the bottom of the pond with the spout aiming up. That worked fine.