Caring For Your Water Garden Season by Season
Maintenance Requirements
Seasonal maintenance for water gardens and water features varies depending on the climate. In temperate zones that experience hard freezing and ice, special care must be taken to prevent damage to either installation.
Spring
Most water gardens and water features are installed in the spring. As the temperatures warm, people venture to enjoy backyard living at its finest.
If water features have spent the winter outdoors, they’ll need to be checked for frost or ice damage. Before they can be switched back on, check to be sure there are no obstructions in the flexible tubing or pump intake ports. Tubing may have also cracked during the dry cold temperatures, requiring replacement. Leaf litter and dirt should be completely removed before the unit is filled and switched on.
Where water gardens are concerned, all of the ponds inhabitants – plant and animal – wake up and begin growing during this time of the year. When water temperatures rise, so do metabolisms. Fish need more food. Plants need to be fertilized. Water quality must be monitored closely, if the pond has been asleep for the winter. Often, if a pond is not properly winterized, toxic gases may develop as sludge at the bottom begins to decompose. The addition of beneficial bacteria recharges a pond’s ecosystem and biofiltration media. Water gardeners also use this time to take stock of how plants and pond wildlife have emerged from the long winter.
Summer
The lazy days of summer may not be so lazy if you spend it near the water garden or fountain. During the heat and long days, water comes alive with algae. Plants bloom and drop their spent petals. Pond fish eat voraciously and make waste just as quickly. Both installations need a helping hand to get through the dog days.
Water gardens, especially, need extra care during this “high season.” As fish and plants grow quickly and add to the biological load of the closed ecosystem, levels of toxins resulting from decomposing waste can spike. Filtration units 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.
Algae is the top, and most difficult, problem in ponds and outdoor water features during the warm summer season. The abundant sunlight and nutrients provide fuel for this tenacious single-celled plant. Anywhere there is water, there will be algae. Count on it. There are a few strategies for managing it.
In water gardens, it can be minimized through manual removal, followed by adding shade. This is often done by adding floating or partially submerged plants. Water lilies, azolla, water lettuce and other popular water plants pull double duty. Not only do they prevent sunlight from reaching algal spores beneath the surface of the pond, they also take nitrogen and other nutrients away from the algae, lessening the algae’s chances of survival. Not to mention they put on a show of their own as blossoms rise from the water and open.
Fountains and water features can be treated in much the same way, by scrubbing the algae away, adding a shade sail or canopy and changing the water more frequently. There are also dozens of algaecide products available on the internet and in pond supply stores that can be added to circulating basins. Be sure to find a product advertised as “non-toxic to birds and fish.” These products are safer for family pets and children, too.