As the spring sun starts to warm our gardens, what do we need to do to make sure our pond gets the best possible yearly start? Jeremy Gay explains.
JEREMY GAY Former PFK editor Jeremy is author of multiple fishkeeping books, and currently edits Reef Builders.
DUE TO THE inclement and chilly nature of our British weather, I confess to being a fair-weather pond keeper. You can’t beat the sight and sound of moving water in the garden in summertime but in winter, if you’re like me, you rarely venture out into the garden for anything other than essential chores. The days are getting lighter now though, so it's time to brave the cold, and spend an afternoon maintaining the pond ahead of time, to make sure it erupts into its full glory at the end of spring. Here’s what you need to check:
Inspection time!
The first thing to do is go outside and inspect the pond. If I haven’t been out to check on it for a few days the first most fundamental thing I look for is that it’s still full (and not too full) of water. Ice can divert water away from waterfalls, while constant rainfall can overfill a pond, and there is always the risk of punctures. It's not even a pond if it doesn’t contain water so the first thing I always instinctively check when first peering over is that the water level is where it should be. If it is too low, mark the level and check it again the next day to see if it's lower still. The harshness of winter can crack pipework and cause leaks so it could be losing water that way—tiny splits are particularly troublesome as they can be difficult to locate. If it's overfilled with rain, pump some out to maintain the proper level, and check KH levels to make sure that the hardness hasn’t been diluted out.
Check for deads
Are the fish alive? Are they up and swimming or looking miserable on the bottom? Do a head count to check they’re all there. If you can’t see them all, have some been eaten by a heron or an otter, have they died over winter, or are they just hiding? Dead fish should be removed.
Check for frogs
Frogs have a nasty habit of drowning when ponds freeze over, and it's not uncommon to find the white, ghostly outline of a dead frog at the bottom of the pond. Remove any bodies you might find and make a note of whether you have frogs in attendance or not. As the year starts to warm up, they’ll start spawning in your pond, and that could spell trouble for filters and pumps as the spawn clogs everything up before decomposing
