Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Placing rocks around edges.

Okay I am again going to show my newness to this stuff but here goes. I am wanting to put rocks around the edges of my pond and was wondering how to do this. do I need to have a "lip" cut into the bank to keep the rock from sliding all the way down or do I just kind of hammer the bottom row of rocks into the clay and build up from there?

Hi wally, I'm asking similar questions in this thread:

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=004622;p=2#000026

I'm thinking about compacting clay and rock in the shallows of a new pond to help control aquatic weeds. Is that you're goal?

Mine is to help control weeds and help with erosion, I am just not sure how far below high water mark I need to go and how to make sure that they stay in place.

wally4232,
I started with just rock along the face of the bank. I cut a ledge as you describe and worked up from there. Where to start is right where your low water line is, sounds easy but "it depends" the low water can change each year.

The rain, and I have a lot, goes in, under and around the rocks washing away the underlying bank. As the bank washes into the pond the rocks settle to fill the voids, this seems to be a continous process. In my case, I was just slowing the erosion down some what. My next step was to use concrete to cover the bank from the low water mark about half way up to the high water mark then cement the stone from there up. The water, it rains a lot here, worked it's way under the entire piece causing cavities. Where the concrete was thin it would collapse into the voids. Next, I covered the top of the bank from the rock edge about 3 to 4 feet back. That has, at least for now, solved the problem. So I have a seal from 3 feet on top of the bank to about 5 feet down the side of the bank.
If rocks are the look you want go for it, I tried planting in between the rocks, hoping that would hold the dirt and rock in place, didn't. I tried a planter in between the bank and the walk way trying to break up the expanse of man-made stuff and the water used the planter as a way under the rock.
Next pond will have a limited amount of rock and I will use a fabric to cover the banks while I establish a fast growing ground cover. I have a few pictures if you are interested.

Rad thanks for the response and yes I am interested in pictures. Do you just want to post them here or do you want my email addy? That is interesting that the rocks really did not work at all for erosion! I may have to change my plans.

I ordered a load or rip-rap.



This is 22 tons of rip-rap. I rented a bob-cat to truck and dump the rock into the edge of the pond. In total I think we used a little over 30 tons of rip-rap.

Maybe we did this bass-ackards... we put down garden cloth that weeds aren't SUPPOSED to grow through and then covered the apron with pea gravel. The weeds still come on up through the cloth. Some weed try to take hold in between the rip-rap. They are easily pulled out.



After dumping the rip-rap we got into the water to stack the rip-rap up. Some of it rolled 3-4 ft away from the bank.


The rock extends about 1 ft below the water line.






We did this project in one weekend... just the wife & I.

_________________________________

What a pretty place jack. Well executed.

Thanks Ryan.....

It is pretty if I do say so myself.

ditto Mr Freeze; cool crib, Jack.

Beautiful place Jack !! That would have been a back-breaker without the bobcat.

Jack, lets do email, if you don't mind.
allcladrad@hotmail.com

Wally,
I think I deleted your email, here are the photos:
This is the first day, Feb, by July we were in trouble, erosion everywhere. We did pretty much what you have done, then the second monsoon and we were losing the rock, either sinking into the bank or sliding into deeper water.

This shows after the cementing in of the rocks and some of the concrete apron, though I was home free at this point, notice the small plants in the edge side planter.

Found the water was running under the edging so I installed a sidewalk

More of the same, see how well the planter is doing.

Became aware of the damage caused by the planters and pumped the pond down for repairs.

More of the damage

Finished product as of July 2006.

Jack,
Beautiful place to while away the hours.

Wally sorry about the confusion, I am in la la land.