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Spring in the Water Garden

© Vicki Paull

At last! Spring is here, almost. Close enough for most of us to start spring clean up in the water garden. Where do you start? I usually remove any potted plants from the pond first. Next skim out any large debris. In the bottom of your pond is a smelly dark sludge that will need to be removed, the best way is with a "wet and dry vac." If you can't get one of those, and your pond is small, mine is tiny, an aquarium vac will work. This is a back breaking, knee popping job, but it will work. Mostly you are trying to clean the bottom without draining the pond. If you have a large pond you may be able to get by without doing this chore at all, especially if you have soil in the bottom for your plants to grow in and a sufficient filtration system.

As part of your clean up, if hard freezes are over in your area, now would be a good time to get out the pump and filter system. Check everything out throughly. You don't want frayed cords or cracked housing on your pump. If all is well, go ahead and get it set up and running. The filtering will help clear the water and get it ready for your fish and plants. Filtration Basics has some excellent advice on setting up and maintaining an effective filtration system.

Back to those plants you took out earlier. Use your pruning shears on any old or damaged leaves. If the pots are overgrown this is a good time to repot and thin out water plants. I repot mine every year, I think they need fresh compost to do their best. Which brings up the question of potting mixture. Every book on the subject has a different suggestion. I use good, well-composted garden soil. I mix it two parts compost to one part sand. After lining my pots with burlap I fill them about half full with soil and put my plants in. Now pack more soil in and place 1"-2" of pea gravel on top to keep the soil in place. Then back in the pond they go.

Now you have some time to enjoy the blooms of early spring, Daffodils, Crocus, Hyacinth, and Algae. Well I don't enjoy the later very much, but as the water warms up, in the natural course of things the algae will bloom. Things can be done to reduce this event, and remember some alga is a good thing helping the natural balance of the pond. The best way to deal with algae is to minimize it to begin with. Control how much you feed your fish. In cooler weather they don't eat as much, so feed accordingly. Keep your filters clean. Many gardeners recommend that you, once a month, replace about one fifth of your pond water with fresh de-chlorinated water. Most importantly-grow plenty of plants to absorb the nutrients in the pond and shade the water. "Fine" you say, "next year I will do all of that but what do I do now?" If you had much debris in your pond, after you clean it out some experts suggest changing up to 50% of the water. Make sure the water is un-chlorinated. If the pond was covered during the winter and contained relatively little debris then a 20% change or less would be sufficient. At this point I should mention that many do not do this radical water change. They feel,with enough plants, a through cleaning and good filtration, the pond will clear as just as fast or faster. Either way now you can top off your pond. Do this slowly so you don't dramatically change the water temperature. I guess everything needs to be understood and that goes for algae too. So Understanding Algae is a good place to go for more suggestions on this problem.