Beginners Guide To Backyard Water gardens And Pond Maintenance Tips

Year Round Guide To Water Garden Pond Maintenance

The Benefits Of Water Gardening: The sound of splashing or cascading water produces a feeling of serenity and tranquility in all of us. It's constant animation and mysterious movements have fascinated mankind for centuries. Perhaps for this reason water garden ponds and a multitude of related water garden accessories have become fairly common place in many of our backyards and gardens. As the pace of life increases it's good to sit back, relax and admire your very own part of nature. Many water gardens contain water features such as garden fountains that are often an integral part of a water garden, where they add beauty and help to circulate water so as to help increase water flow, in turn helping to supply valuable oxygen to your koi, goldfish and other pond inhabitants such as frogs, snails, tadpoles etc ....

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What is a Backyard Water Garden Pond?

A water garden, depending upon it's size will contain either large or small volumes of water contained in a garden pond constructed from either preformed pond liners, concrete pond liners or butyl rubber pond liners that are also known as EPDM liners or Xavan liners. Aquatic water gardening is a rapidly growing hobby and form of relaxation in the USA, much like the UK where it has been popular for many years. You will find many landscape water gardens also contain various aquatic plants, including submersible, floating, and marginal species that partially cover the water’s surface and surrounding landscape. Pond plants not only add beauty but help to eliminate algae bloom (green water) as well as being a valuable source of oxygen during daylight hours. Many water gardens contain goldfish, koi, tench and other species to complete a tiny outdoor eco system. Keeping fish and other aquatic life in a water garden often necessitates the need for pond keeping equipment such as pond pumps, pond filters and UV sterilizers to maintain a healthy water garden.

Why Build A Water Garden?

There isn't a single answer to this question. Hobbyists build water gardens and install water features for different reasons. For some it's a means to relax and admire the beauty and wonderment of their tranquil water gardens after a hard day at the office. For many traditional gardeners the opportunity to grow and cultivate new species of pond plants in addition to the traditional garden varieties is a new seed of interest. Those of you who enjoy nature and carefully like to monitor and balance water quality with filtration units, pond test kits and chemical additives will find this hobby fascinating but a challenge as water gardening is about patience, a basic understanding of eco systems and plenty of time.

How To care For A Garden Pond Or Water Garden In Spring

It is usually during the Spring when your intended water garden ideas are actually put into place and the water garden or water features are installed. As the cold winter months fade into the distance you can start to enjoy the look and feel of your water garden yet again. It is advisable to carry out the following during this time:

Any outdoor water features that have spent the last few months in the cold winter weather need to given the once over to see if there has been frost or ice damage, prior to switching them back on again.
Check any pond water pumps and flexible tubing to ensure that there aren't any blockages. Replace any cracked or damaged tubing and remove trapped debris, including leaves from any garden pond pumps prior to switching them back on again.
Water gardeners throughout the country will start to notice their tranquil water gardens start to come alive once again. Pond fish and aquatic plants start to grow. This necessitates the need to increase the levels of fish food and fertilizers put into the water garden. Be careful though to monitor water levels closely, so as to avoid upsetting the delicate eco system.
The addition of beneficial bacteria recharges a pond’s ecosystem and pond filter media.
Take the opportunity to look at your water garden and remove any dead plants or fish, to prevent decomposition and contamination of the pond water.

How To care For A Garden Pond Or Water Garden In Summer

During the rising temperatures and longer periods of sunlight, you will notice the levels of green water, also known as suspended algae or algae bloom start to grow. Plants drop their leaves and petals into the water and koi, gold fish and other fish start to develop a voracious appetite, resulting in large levels of bodily waste being produced, in turn resulting in the levels of ammonia in your pond increasing. Water gardens need extra care during this busy time of the year.

Garden pond filters need to be back flushed more often.
Nitrate and Ammonium removing water treatments may need to be added to keep the water clean and balanced.
Essential pond algae maintenance needs to be carried out. I advise the use of an ultra violet sterilizer (UVC) for best results but using shade to block out sunlight, required for growth (photosynthesis) is a good way. Using pond plants is the best form of shade: floating or partially submerged plants, such as Water lilies, Azolla and Water lettuce, not only prevent sunlight from reaching the algae bloom spores, beneath the water surface but also compete for nutrients and nitrates.
Remove excess algae growth from any water features and change the water in the basin more frequently. The addition of small quantities of "non toxic" pond algaecide to the fountain basin will also help to slow the growth of algae down.

How To care For Your Water Garden During The Fall

As the nights start to draw in and the trees start to shed their leaves this is the time of year where your patience and love of water gardening may be put to the test.

Water gardens need to be protected from falling leaves. The purchase of quality pond maintenance equipment in the form of a pond surface skimmer, to remove any leaves and debris floating on the pond surface is a must. Routine maintenance of the skimmer filter will need to be carried out to ensure excess debris is removed, perhaps twice daily, depending upon the number of trees surrounding your water garden.
If your water garden pond is surrounded by trees then they will need to be tied back. The use of netting is ideal for this purpose and is cheap to buy. Any leaves that fall into the water and are not removed, will sink to the pond floor and start to decay, causing the release of toxic gases.
Many pond plant species die during the colder spells and it is essential to remove them, otherwise like the leaves they will start to decay and cause pond pollution in the form of poisonous gases.
Unlike humans your koi, goldfish and other fish species are cold blooded and their metabolism is greatly affected by the water temperature that they live in. As the temperature drops they will start to eat less. Once the water temperature reaches 55 degrees STOP FEEDING. Failure to do so will cause any food in the fish's gut to rot as it's body is unable to digest food, below this temperature, causing illness and eventual death.
Ensure that any Outdoor fountains or other water features are rid of debris and leaves, in order to prevent the pump intake or flexible hose from becoming blocked.
Be careful to keep an eye out for the falling temperatures as ice or really cold weather could damage the fountain pump or damage the water feature itself.

How To care For Your Water Garden During The Winter

Just because there is snow on the ground and ice everywhere doesn't have to mean you put the "closed for the season sign up" and ignore until spring. When it comes to fish and pond keeping it is essential that you ensure that the pond surface doesn't freeze over completely, or the toxic gases released by decaying vegetation will increase causing possible fatalities to your expensive koi and other fish. The purchase of a pond de-icer at this time of year is a good idea. The deicer uses heated metal coils to gradually melt the surface ice. Many models of pond deicer utilize a thermostat to allow them to automatically switch off and on during the day, resulting in them being energy efficient also.

This is the time of year to switch off waterfalls and streams, as they can freeze solid during extreme cold and force water out of the pond by creating ice dams. For those of you living in the more temperate states of the USA, you can continue to allow your pond components to operate but periodically check any plumbing and electrical components for damage caused by wear and tear.
Many fountains and water features use weaker magnetic-drive pumps that are not powerful enough to keep the water moving fast enough to prevent it from freezing. It is best during this time of year to move any water features indoors away from the bitterly cold weather.

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