How to dig a big natural pond by hand. Don't do it!
There are good reasons to dig a pond by hand. The most obvious is cost , remoteness or to get in shape. The best advice I can give you is DON'T do it. I said it and don't say I didn't warn you!
Before I explain how I will show you the pond I dug up. I needed the sand for a building project so I thought lets directly make a pond. This way more work than I thought.
Quick facts:
- A natural pond is a man made body of water from 1m2 to couple of hectares big. Bigger should be named a lake, but is often still called a pond.
- A fit person can dig 4M3 per day in loose soil or sand. Transporting the soil with a wheelbarrow will double the time.
- Dug up soil increases the size by roughly 50%, because it's less compact.
Calculating time and size.
Before we can calculate a rough estimate you need to know some values.
How deep before you are at the water level in dry season? If its above and you need to install a liner of clay or Bentonite add at least 20cm depth.
You can make dirt or a old pond watertight with pig or duck shit. It produces a slimy layer that will seal the pond. This is one of the reasons why pigs can create a muddy mes
Type of ground. In clay or rocky soil you maybe only dig a single cubic meter.
Size and shape of the dug hole. A inverted trapezium is often considered the best size. To calculate the rough volume of a trapezium or cone is done by a simple formula.
To give you an example how much work it is. A 5 by 5 pond in a trapezium shape 2 meters deep is roughly 40m3. This is in perfect soil 10 full days of digging and with transporting the soil 20 days. Muscle pain will slow you down fast after the first day! The 20 days estimate is only realistic if you spread the workdays out over a long period. This keeps you fit and painfree.
Digging technique
Digging is simple, but digging constantly with a decent posture not. It's important to dig with a straight back and to use your legs instead of your arms. Pay attention to this otherwise you end up with injuries. There is already a great How-to about it. Click here
Take breaks and dig with a half shovel full at a time. Heavier and you can't dig the whole day.
Wildlife & plants
Wildlife and plants will arrive by nature itself. This process can take from a couple of months till a year. You can speed this is by harvesting some local waterplants, dirt and water. This will kick start life in the pond.
Gogreenbuddy
Gogreenbuddy is a personal project were I work with natural building materials, permaculture and animals. To support me is easy follow me on Steemit and Youtube!
People frequently underestimate volumes of dirt. It's not something you work with every day. I was doing some landscaping and we got a truck load of black dirt to spread in our backyard. A truck load sounds like a lot but it was not very much once I had it spread out over the whole yard. I probably could have used a couple truck loads but I made due.
Exactly I calculated it was less than a centimeter spread out in our garden!
Very cool @gogreenbuddy! I'm working on digging a pond the same way. Thank you for the video!😁
If you really want to do it by hand...Give it some years don't break your back!
For sure started last spring. Plan on doing some more digging this spring.
Digging when it's superdry really helps. Digging moist earth is much much heavier. I even turned the grass in the sun and dug it up next day. It really helps.
I agree but when it is superdry the temperature it high 90's fahrenheit with high humidity where I live. Not fun to dig in that temp.
An early bird...No excuses sir.
No excuses here my man. I would much rather do it in the spring and shovel dirt that is a little heaver then in the dead of summer. I't a compromise not an excuse. Just as you would rather shovel superdry dirt in the heat of summer I would rather shovel dirt that is a little heaver but in comfortable weather.😁