When we moved in to this house, there was a swingset in the backyard. Because our kids are past the swingset age, we took it out. Apparently when it was put in, they wanted it to stay forever--we took over 800 pounds of concrete to the dump!
The next step was removing the sod from one side of the area. After several hours of digging and a couple of trips to the dump, it was gone!
I then spent the next few days digging for the pond. Luckily, my son was home from college, so by mid-day each day, I did have a helper. (haha) The problem with that was, that by mid-day each day, it was over 90 degrees, but I'll take whatever help I can get!
We dug and dug, and took load after load to the dump. My husband would come home and help us dig and let us know we needed to dig some more! The depth had to be at least 30" so fish could survive during the winter. 30" doesn't seem like much until you are the one digging a 30" deep hole! 
We put a carpet remnant between the dirt and the liner (sorry, no picture of that), then put the liner down. They recommend putting something soft underneath the liner so it doesn't get any tears in it. We then spread the liner out. Luckily it was really hot, so the liner was very pliable. We started adding rocks to the waterfall area first. There were a lot of rocks put in, then taken out, then moved here and there until we felt it was looking the way we wanted it to. Also the 'pool' area behind the waterfall had to be high enough to spill over the rocks, but also not leak out anywhere. We used lots of landscape foam between the rocks once we got it high enough and leak proof!
Once we got all of the pond rocks in, we put in a flagstone pathway around the edge. I've filled the cracks in with thyme, but at the time this picture was taken, it hadn't filled in very well yet.
The mesh draped across is to keep Max in his area. (He would love to swim all over, but the liner could get ripped, so he has to stay in this area.) Having the mesh isn't our preferred 'look', but we do love him and need a place for him to cool off in the summer when it's regularly over 100 degrees.
We put koi and feeder goldfish in and they are all doing great! The koi were pretty small when we got them and the feeder goldfish cost 27 cents each at Petsmart, so there was very little investment. We put several plants in the pond so that the fish could get shade in the summer.
Having the pond is so nice. We spent every evening out here last summer and fall and can't wait to get out there again this year!
Thanks for visiting!
Pam
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