Moved to our home about 4 years ago. We spend allot of time sorting out the house for a full renovation and neglected the garden. It was covered in bramble and dead trees. We have spend the last 12 months clearing up the bramble but noticed a small plunge pool right on the back boundary. I don't know what to do with it! Part off me thinks to back fill to level the back close to the lawn's level but am I making a mistake. Photos added t
No idea what to do with back of garden.
- Thread starter AffyBham
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that is interesting. depends on how much money you have. can fill it in and be done with it. or make it into a lily pond, some fish etc. have to get a filter system. plant things around it. etc. lots of research to do it right.
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Welcome AffyBham. 
If you back fill it - it will need drainage holes in the bottom. If it was in my garden I'd demolish it and start again with a clean slate.
If you back fill it - it will need drainage holes in the bottom. If it was in my garden I'd demolish it and start again with a clean slate.
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Don't do anything until you've formulated a long term plan, if you intend to stay in the house for any length of time.
Decide how you would like it to end up and split the work up into "chunks."as time and money dictates.
Then start with the bit nearest the house so the view of your efforts from a window will encourge you to do the next bit.
Decide how you would like it to end up and split the work up into "chunks."as time and money dictates.
Then start with the bit nearest the house so the view of your efforts from a window will encourge you to do the next bit.
Thank you all. Really helpful! We are new to gardening and keen on learning. We don't want spend our resources on hard landscaping but prefer to build lots of green spaces. I like the idea of chunks as when I think of it as a whole, I don't know where to start and then start to give up!
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in the mean time, it can be a safety issue. so you have to do something to prevent folk for falling into it.
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The more I look at it the more work I see.
It'd be quite a job to level off the garden. It might suprise you how much stuff you'll need to fill the pool. It could be part filled with its coping stones and the other bricks from the feature in the garden, together with the first few rows of the pool's bricks themselves. It's hard to tell from the photos but it looks as if the spoil from the pool when it was built, was used in the garden. So leveling off the whole garden could produce enough spoil to finish filling the pool. You need to take some levels to see what needs to be done. But I wouldn't want to do the work with just a spade.
It'd be quite a job to level off the garden. It might suprise you how much stuff you'll need to fill the pool. It could be part filled with its coping stones and the other bricks from the feature in the garden, together with the first few rows of the pool's bricks themselves. It's hard to tell from the photos but it looks as if the spoil from the pool when it was built, was used in the garden. So leveling off the whole garden could produce enough spoil to finish filling the pool. You need to take some levels to see what needs to be done. But I wouldn't want to do the work with just a spade.
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@Sean Regan is right. Before you make any moves think about what you want from the garden.
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*My opinion only*
That plunge pool looks like a safety hazard but it's proximity to the white brick wall could make it hard to deal with correctly (not causing additional damage to the wall)
I had a buddy that bought a house with an unwanted inground pool similar to this. His way to get rid of it was to crack the bottom as best as he could then knock the concrete walls into the pool hole then back fill the whole thing to level with the lawn around it. Now this is NOT a small task, especially if you have to do everything with hand tools.
Make your plan especially as the brick and concrete of that pool weighs a LOT and can be hard to get rid of.
- How will you use this area?
- Is it nicely shaded in the afternoon?
- Do you picture yourself sitting out there with a coffee in the morning or a beer in the afternoon after work?
- How are the neighbors - do they make it intolerable to be outside so you just want pretty when looking out form the windows?
- Is garden work something you enjoy?
- Do you want some level of food coming out of the garden? Fruit trees?
- Get your dreams and wants inline.
- Make a plan.
- Pick up tools or call a contractor.
= = = = = = =
*My opinion only*
That plunge pool looks like a safety hazard but it's proximity to the white brick wall could make it hard to deal with correctly (not causing additional damage to the wall)
I had a buddy that bought a house with an unwanted inground pool similar to this. His way to get rid of it was to crack the bottom as best as he could then knock the concrete walls into the pool hole then back fill the whole thing to level with the lawn around it. Now this is NOT a small task, especially if you have to do everything with hand tools.
Make your plan especially as the brick and concrete of that pool weighs a LOT and can be hard to get rid of.
Yes I agree. I thin
k focus on the here and now. It's a North facing garden.I have really young children and never leave them unoccupied when out playing so safety comes first. I think back fill with soil from the front part of the garden that jutts out currently next to slabs. (Photo supplied - the pool is right at the back).Then level the back pool area using the soil in front too. Plant trees at back for privacy from the tall building at the back and start to think about introducing an oval shaped path around the main lawn area. That should be enough this year
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As well as a plan "A," a plan "B" is also advisable, in case you decide on a major project and later down the line (in my case thirty-odd years) you change your mind.
I built this 3000 gall 5ft deep koi pool (by myself) in 1986. This was its last summer, 2018.
At the time my wife worried what we would do "with the big hole" if for whatever reason I gave up keeping koi.
I said "I have a plan B."
This was it. The pool developed a leak in 2019 and I considered it involved too much work to change the liner. I got a firm in, as I didn't fancy barrowing in the 20 tonnes of eco-friendly hardcore it took to fill it at the age of 79.
This is my idea of gardening now.
To get through the base of your pool you need to get hold of one of these I have. I drilled a lot of holes through the concrete screed base before it was filled in. Any rainwater quickly disappears through the loose laid paving.
I built this 3000 gall 5ft deep koi pool (by myself) in 1986. This was its last summer, 2018.
At the time my wife worried what we would do "with the big hole" if for whatever reason I gave up keeping koi.
I said "I have a plan B."
This was it. The pool developed a leak in 2019 and I considered it involved too much work to change the liner. I got a firm in, as I didn't fancy barrowing in the 20 tonnes of eco-friendly hardcore it took to fill it at the age of 79.
This is my idea of gardening now.
To get through the base of your pool you need to get hold of one of these I have. I drilled a lot of holes through the concrete screed base before it was filled in. Any rainwater quickly disappears through the loose laid paving.
I'm just envious of someone that lived in their house for 4 years before discovering they had a pool! It must be a big garden!
The length in total is about 40 metres. We have lots of levels, patio is lower than the lawn by 50cm, then at the back leading to pool, it's 1 metres above lawn level. There were a family of foxes at the back hence left alone for a long time and stayed away from exploring! Thanks all for the ideas certainly lots to take away.