How to Maintain a Pond by Season

A pond in your garden is not just to be enjoyed in the spring or summer. A pond is a long-term landscaping feature that requires different kinds of maintenance depending on the season.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pond
• Heater
• Ball

Spring

1. Feed fish according to their individual needs when you notice that they have become active.

2. Check that all electrical components of your water feature are in good working order.

3. Remove, clean and store your pond heater.

4. Reconnect the submersible pump on your fountain or waterfall.

5. Lift, divide and replant new portions of congested water lilies and other overcrowded plants.

6. Start to plant new aquatics.

7. Fertilize established aquatic plants based on the manufacturer's directions, so that you do not inadvertently feed the algae rather than the cultivated plants.

Summer

8. Continue feeding the fish, following the food manufacturer's directions precisely.

9. Continue planting.

10. Monitor the water level and fill the pond as necessary. In hot conditions, the level can drop 1 to 2 inches in a week, which can make a real difference in a small pond, and is obviously hazardous to plants, fish and the pond liner. If you are going away for a long period, have a friend keep an eye on the water level in your absence and refill it if necessary.

11. Remove blanket weed from the surface of the water using a rake or by winding it on a stick.

12. Deadhead faded flower heads before they set seed.

Fall

13. Continue feeding for as long as fish appear active.

14. Continue planting until the weather begins to grow cooler.

15. Continue lifting, dividing and replanting new portions of overcrowded plants until the colder weather arrives.

16. Cut down and remove the foliage and flower stems of plants as they fade based on the individual needs of each plant. For example, marginal plants should not be cut down below the water level.

17. Remove debris from the pond regularly. Screen the pond by placing mesh netting over the surface, if necessary, to keep out leaves until neighboring trees are bare.

18. Remove sensitive plants and place them in water in a cool, frost-free environment.

19. Remove, clean and store the submersible pump. Install the pond heater.

Winter

20. Stop feeding the fish.

21. Stop planting.

22. Take precautionary measures against the worst of the winter weather. If you live in an area that snows or where temperatures drop below freezing, consider purchasing a small wading pool to put in the greenhouse or garage to keep more sensitive pond plants out of the elements.

23. Float a ball on the surface of the water if you do not have a pond heater to prevent ice from forming. In a small pool, the whole pond can become frozen, which is lethal for fish and many plants. In larger ponds, the ice itself is not a killer, but if the surface of the water is covered with ice for more than a day or so, the toxic methane gas released from submerged, decaying vegetation is allowed to build up and can be lethal to fish. Keeping a small area of the pond free of ice permits the gas to disperse into the air.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep a calendar of when you performed pond maintenance.

[dnatureluvr]

on 9/12/2009 5* thanks i have one and i was in doubt of what to do.