Ground water well pit

I have a stream on my property
Last year I connected a pump as a test to fill my ponds
Water came out pretty slow, not a good fitting on intake

So this year I decided to dig a pit closer to the pond & my veggie garden
I barely dug down 20" & the pit filled with 12" of water
I figure if I did a 4x4 pit about 2' down I should have about 16" of water
Worst case I figure 12" & that would give me about 130g of water

I need to check the pump I have & see the ratings
It will be pumping about 31' & up about 5'
This is less distance then it was pumping last year
Pump may only do 70 gph with rise/run

I also want to use this to water the gardens

Thoughts?

It doesn't matter how much water is in the pit. What matters is how fast the water will fill the pit. 70 GPH is not much, 700 GPH would be more like it. However, you can pump what ever flow rate is coming into the pit. It will just take a long time to water a garden with 70 GPH. You also need the pit deep enough to be able to get the pump or suction a foot or so under the water.

Actually it's the quantity of water I'm trying to maximize
I figure I need to pump it out & time to see how fast it refills
But I don't have a huge garden & if there is 130g of water in the pit that is all the water I need

Plus I can fill a 55g barrel & a 150g water trough for gravity feed watering. I'm not look at a lot of use, so I actually prefer the lower gph pump. Ideally I want the water to pump up into a irrigation system, possibly fed from the 55g drum.
I need to find the pump & do a test
Thanks

Found the pump, 515 gph
At 5' I should get about 250 gph according to their chart
Now I just need to test this & see how it works with different pipe or a hose