The garden pond in the spring time is possibly the most exciting time of the year. Christmas is a distant memory, and everyone is desperately trying (and in my case failing) to stick to their New Year's Resolutions.
The garden pond in the spring time is possibly the most exciting time of the year.
Christmas is a distant memory, and everyone is desperately trying (and in my case failing) to stick to their New Year's resolutions. The cold weather has finally started to take a turn for the better and, with the chances of snow and frost diminishing, the natural world starts to switch back on. The fish will start to become more active and all the flora and fauna will start to grow on their way back to their full summer glory.
Repairing Liner and Making Adjustments
If you have been waiting for the weather to improve before going out and working on your pond, or the recent ice has caused damage to the pond liner, now is the time to get going and sort it all out before spring really takes hold and you end up disturbing the pond life. Small repairs can generally be done with a Pond Liner Repair Kit. You also want to be making any pond improvements at this time such as adding a waterfall or a stream.
Plants
In the autumn and winter the plants will have died back and should ideally have had the dead growth cut away. They will start to show new shoots and this is the perfect time to split/divide any plants up which have filled their pots. This will cause the least disturbance to the plant as they are all ready and primed for lots of growing and any divisions will happily grow into a new healthy pond plant. Once the threat of frost has gone you can put your non-hardy plants back out into the pond or bog garden, but keep an eye on the weather report for any random late frosts and take ad hoc measures to cope with these.
Fish Feeding
Once the temperature begins to rise regularly back above 7 - 10 degrees and the fish start becoming more active you can start to feed them. You can keep an eye on the temperature easily with a pond thermometer. Remember however that all the food should be eaten within two minutes. If it is not you are over feeding the fish and need to cut back on the food quantity.
Equipment: Cleaning and Maintenance
It is generally a good idea to have taken your pump and filter inside during the coldest winter months. Now is the time to set up your pond filtration system again. Ideally you want to set the pump running through the filter but leave the UV unit switched off for the first 2 months. This allows the 'good' bacteria to get into the filter and build up on the bio media. It should not matter having the UV switched off as there shouldn't be a problem with algae during early spring (as algae growth is very much temperature related).
General Maintenance
Despite your best efforts over the winter to keep out any dead organic material such as leaves, you will undoubtedly have a build up of sludge and debris in the bottom of the pond. This is the perfect time to vacuum the pond and ensure it is all clear for the start of the summer. This will help you avoid problems with blanketweed and green water as it will reduce the chances of a chemical imbalance in the water. At this stage it is also a good idea to give the pond water an M.O.T and test for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and pH. This will allow you to also ensure the water quality is perfect for the start of summer which will reduce the chance of pond problems as the temperature heats up.