What can I do with this unwanted pond?

If you could get hold of rubble to fill it in to a depth of the first 3', and then the top part with a compost and grit mixture, you could create a beautiful raised bed, with good drainage.

Depending on which direction it faces and how much shelter it gets, alpines would be lovely in there. What a collection you could have! :-)

Our members Moongrower and Bulbaholic are the two alpine experts on the site - they'd be able to advise you on which plants to get.

I'm sure there are lots of other uses for this area - that's just one idea!

Sand pit for the children? a bog or rock garden, or fill it in and put pots and cushions on it or even cold frames.

Hi Koi and welcome the pond could definitely be turned into a wonderful raised alpine bed but you would need to be careful not to put alkaline rubble into the bottom as this could leach upwards and kill off a lot of the plants. PM myself of Bulbaholic with details of direction faced etc. if you would like a list of plants.

Unless the pond is lined with a butyl liner I would not recommend turning into a bog garden as there will be no escape for the water.

Five foot sounds very deep; is there an old septic tank or something beneath it? The main question would be - do you want it to stay watertight? If you do then you cannot really turn it into a plant growing area because it would be too wet. If you don't mind bursting it then you have more options. Just crack the base so that it leaks slowly and you could make a bog garden or really smash up the base to give good drainage and it would make a very attractive raised bed.

The other alternative is to empty it of water, then cover it over with planks and stand a few pots on it to make an attractive feature

Planks sound a go idea Andrew as the options are still there for later.

HI KOI I have the same problem. I have a 250 gal fibreglass ornamental pond, I used to keep baby Koi in it. Now the gardening BUG has struck and I want the small space it occupies to grow things in. What ever you decide, if you cut the liner away at the top edge DO NOT THROW IT AWAY OR PIERCE IT, The liner will come in handy either to lay on your Green house staging, with a small lip to hold gravel and water, to water your pots in one go. Then you can lower one corner to empty it.It's so much easier. The same can be used out side to do the same job if you go on holiday. It saves your neibours or freinds from using to much time watering for you.
see you Frank

Koi, if you are any good at joinery you could place an ornamental glasshouse on top of it. If not a nice raised bed. If it were mine I'd make a bog-standard transparent cover to fit over it. Plant sweetcorn early then remove the cover when the weather warms up.

Hi Koi i have had the same thingto do at my mother in laws she no longer wanted the hastle of a pond so i filled it in and have made a beautiful bed for lots of lovely plants, i did however puncture and cut up the liner first and then filled it in. After time the soil sank and i have just topped it up. I didnt put alot of rubble in the base as this can affect you plants at a later date. pretty much all of the garden waste went in there for a while. It can be done and its now lovely. My pond was also about 5 ft deep.

are sunken gardens out of fashion then,?

What were you planning to sink Cliffo? lol

they were all the rage at one time, may be that pond is not big enough, but the idear I think was you had a place you could sit out of the wind with your plants around you a very private place,were you and your plants were shaded,and you were surounded at all levals , just imadgen your alpines surounding you at all levals 'MG.

Ah... got it would need to be a lot bigger than this pond though. The local town has one in its garden - used to be fab. now it is just run down... seems it is not part of what is judged for Britain in Bloom - al sorts of stuff that is a waste of money but not the sunken garden... sigh!!!

Thanks for all your thoughts. I dug this pond in a former lifetime and used to keep koi in it. Recently it has just had a few happy goldfish but the other day the lining must have punctured (by a root I suppose) and I am not committed enough to the pond now to repair/maintain it. Come to think of it, my next door neighbour when I was a kid used to have a sunken garden at the bottom of the garden and it was the most magical place with a winding path, conifers and a small shed hidden away in the deepest part. Anything I do will have to be low maintenance because of my limited time availability. I did toy with the idea of taking down a corner of the wall so that it looked like a ruin ....

Good luck whatever you decide to do Koi maybe you can create a blog of the changes

Someone i know had a pond a bit larger than yours and they filled it in and now uses it as a veggie plot .Imagine all the veggies or fruit ie raspberries gooseberries etc you could grow in it. But you might have to use topsoil to fill the empty pond up with.