Pond spring care
When spring show its signs, the weather warms up and the risk of thick ice developing has passed, is time to remove floating electric pond heaters and bring pumps out of store and place them back into your pond to drive fountains, waterfalls or any other moving water features. Before installing any of those features, tidy up the pond by cleaning and removing any dead stems and foliage.
Keep an eye on the weeds so you can keep them under control by scooping them out regularly with a net. As time goes warmer, filamentous algae will soon develop and spread all over your pond, so you have to remove them regularly to not let them cover the pond surface and straggle the pond plants. Use a small net to scoop out accumulated debris or to remove floating duckweed.
You can now lift and divide any marginal plants that have overgrown and replant them in smaller groups. You can even buy new aquatic plants in this period, like water lilies, sedges, iris or reeds, and plant them in aquatic baskets. To bring some extra help in your fight with the algae you can add some extra oxygenating plants to the pond to improve water quality.
Give your aquatic plants a good meal that will help them over the growing period by pushing fertilizer pellets down into the established water plants compost.
If you have fishes in you pond, as the weather is warming up, they will become more active and will need regular feeding, like once a day will be sufficient but if you miss a day or two it will be no problem.
Pond summer care
Warm weather will evaporate water from the pond so is necessary to top up water levels as they fall. Playing water on the surface of your pond will help to aerate the pond water, thing mostly important if you have fish in your pond.
In early summer you can start introducing tender floating plants to the ponds and if the other floating plants are not enough you can still add some more until you cover about two-thirds of the surface area in order to achieve the right balance for your pond. You can also add some more aquatic plants in baskets if they are necessary for a better coverage.
In early summer you can also add fish into your pond, as the water gets warmer they will get acclimatized quickly to the new conditions. Bring the home as soon as possible after you bought them, let the bag to float in the pond for in hour or two until the water temperature from the bag gets the same level as the one from the pond. Cut the bag under water and lat the fish to go out by themselves, not forcing them.
Pond weed, like blanket weed and duckweed are a regular problem of a pond. Remove them regularly using a net or cane. Tidy the pond margins regularly by removing any dead flower stems or leaves. Clear up filters regularly to not let them get clogged up with algae.
Encourage wildlife into your pond, building a pebble beach along one edge on the informal ponds. To help the fish from your pond to get more oxygen you can install a water feature that will keep the water moving and so the oxygen levels will be high.
It is good to have oxygenating plants in your pond as they will help to prevent the algae to spread but they can also become invasive and take over the pond completely. Pull them out with a rake and let them by the side of the pond to dry out and to allow to escape any wildlife that might be hiding in them. They can be added in the compost heap as the weeds can too.
Pond autumn care
In early to mid autumn, before fish go into hibernation for the winter, feed them with floating wheatgerm pallets, which can be digested easily in the cool autumn water.
In late autumn stop feeding fish once the weather turns cooler and they become less active, otherwise unused food will decompose and pollute the pond.
In early autumn lift and divide large marginal plants, or those growing in bog gardens. Cut up or pull apart, ensuring that each piece being replanted has a portion or root and shoot attached.
In mid to late autumn remove any dead or dying foliage from marginal plants as their foliage dies back for winter and take out floating aquatics, that are not frost-hardy. These can be over-wintered in jars of pond water on a bright windowsill indoors, or discarded.
Cover the pond with netting to prevent fallen leaves contaminating the pond. Clear dead leaves from the netting frequently. On small, formal ponds make a frame covered with netting to fit right over the pond. Remove once all leaves have fallen.
Remove pumps and filters. Clean well and replace any worn parts before storing in a dry place until spring.
Float a pond heater on fish ponds, especially those made from concrete, to prevent thick ice forming on the surface. This expands to crack ponds and can trap harmful gases.
Pond winter care
In winter, your pond still might need your attention, because in many regions, ice may form in your pond, trapping methane gas released by submerged or decaying vegetation. This gas have potentially lethal effects on the fish that you might have in your pond. Ice also exerts pressure on the sides of concrete or fiberglass ponds as it expands and may cause them to crack.
Ensure that a small area of the pond remains ice-free. This will prevent the damage of ice pressure and will also allow methane to escape into the air. You can use a floating electric pool heater that will give out just enough heat to maintain a small area of open water.
If you don't have a heater than you can use instead a ball that will float on the water. When the ice forms, just pour boiling water over the ball and remove it. Then cover the hole with a sack. In a thaw, remove the sack and replace the ball.
