how big a pond ..

how deep ....

how big is the tree.. what is the tree.. how close to the trunk ?????

digging by hand or motorized equipment ...

is it up to code to put a water hazard in the front lawn???? ... most pools have to be fenced ... so i am wondering about a pond .... might want to check with the city .... before you waste a lot of time and effort ...

more specific facts please ...

the name fascinates me.. do you call your kid 'bag'???

ken

Ken -- ha ha! It's a joke related to a family name!

My next door neighbor has a pond in her front yard. I'm not talking like a swimming pool, but not tiny like the itty bitty kits at home depot. Maybe something with an area the size of a king sized bed, only not rectangular. Our front yard is up on a hill, with house up and away from the sidewalk. It's not a yard that anyone would wander into. To get into the yard, they would have to climb up through a prickly hill of juniper! Or leap up over a 3 foot stone wall. (Or be an invited guest, parked in the driveway up near the house.)

I would be digging by hand. Probably 2 to 3 feet max depth for fish to hide, with shallower shelf ledges around edges.

Neighbor has a large oak in her yard -- properties are sort of on a hill and terraced, i.e. her yard is 3 feet higher than mine with a stone wall in between us. (My yard is stepped down -- the stone wall is a nice backdrop for my plants.) So anyway, her tree is about 12 feet away from pond site and up higher than my ground level.

My tree is a big black gum. Pond site is probably 10 feet away from trunk.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Complicated questions to answer.

Which could you live without? The tree or the pond?

How large and established are the trees? What kind of tree does she have?

Most likey, a hand dug pond that small and shallow will not kill the trees. The tupelo might even love after it gets over having its roots disturbed.

How big is the blackgum tree? If it's 12"+ caliper, then I would say your too close. If it's 2-4" caliper, then I would think you could get away with it. In between???? Don't know the answer.

Arktrees

Neighbor's tree is a huge oak. My black gum is bigger than 12"....

Well, poo.

What if I started carefully digging -- by hand -- and worked around the pond perimeter to investigate the root situation?

What if I did a PARTIAL dig-in, then used a large, preformed pond liner -- rather than digging way down, I could build up around the edge with stone. THen I'd only be digging a lot for the part of the pond with maximum depth.