Pond Maintenance - Woodchurch
Late Autumn is the perfect time to do essential pond maintenance.
It’s a time when the aquatic plants have died back, amphibians and insects have started to hibernate and the surrounding deciduous shrubs and trees have mostly shed their leaves onto the garden.
Cut Back and Thin Plants
This pond looked like it was suffocating, there were too many plants and a layer of duckweed and leaves carpeted its surface.
Besides the pond not looking attractive, leaving it in this state, the dead plants and debris would decompose in the water, creating a sludge at the bottom of the pond.
This adds excessive nutrients to the pond, and in the warmer months, can cause algae blooms and oxygen depletion, that can kill fish.
The plants were trimmed back using a pair of garden sheers and secateurs and thinned out by a third.
You need to get your hands wet, gently pulling up the plant so not to overly disturb the bottom of the pond.
Clear Duckweed and Debris
The layer of small green leaves you see floating on this pond is Duckweed. It can beneficial, providing shelter, food and can also aerate the pond.
However, too much Duckweed covering the pond can block light to the plants growing beneath the surface and can also reduce oxygen levels.
I skimmed the surface with a clean broom to remove most of the Duckweed.
Using a tine rake I carefully scooped out all the leaves and sludge on the bottom of the pond.
Tidy Up Pond Edges
Once the pond maintenance was done, it was time to make the pond look more attractive.
The lawn had crept over the slabs and entangled itself with the wire net and the slabs were covered in moss and weeds.
Using a lawn edger I cut around the slabs to give a good sharp clean look.
Pulled up the weeds by hand and used a hoe to scrape the moss from the slabs.
Making sure none of it ended up in the pond.
Finally, I mowed around the area as short as possible, collecting the grass clippings and then returning the net over the pond.
A really satisfying job, knowing that this pond is now a lot healthier and ready for its habitants return.
It only took half a day to carry out this pond maintenance.
If you have a small pond that needs maintaining why not give us a call .