by Tina Samuels

Created on: May 15, 2010

The sun is out and there is warmth all around in Rome, GA. It is the perfect weather for all types of gardening. For those with a water garden, this is the busiest time of the year. Now that the pond is cleaned and restarted, with new and exciting items placed in for fun, it’s time to get down to business and really roll your sleeves up and get dirty. There are four main aspects to maintaining a water garden in the summer, and these are broke down into the categories of water garden maintenance, water plant maintenance, pond animal maintenance, and pond equipment maintenance.

Water Garden Maintenance
Check the algae (or hopefully the lack of algae). Skim out as much of the algae as able and think about adding in “algae eating” fish types. Make sure the pond is clean and check on the water pH levels. Is it cloudy? Clear? This is the time of the year that the gardener will want the water to be near perfect for the best results all through the year. Make sure there is enough water in the pond.

Water Plant Maintenance
Cut back your water plants to remove any dead spots and clear out the weeds and debris from the earlier seasons. Summer is the prime time to cut back and remove non growing items to give way for other plants to grow. Propagate and divide any marginal water plants that are mature and ready for division. Plant these water plant plugs in other locations and spread throughout the current pond.

Pond Animal Maintenance
Summer is the main spawning time for fish, so make sure that they have cover and stillness. If there are attacks from the male fish, net off a section of pond for the female fish to take cover and support. The summer is also the best time to add new fish to the pond and to check for disease again. Using a good quality net to lift up the fish is a good way to check the fish thoroughly without too much stress or trauma for them.

Pond Equipment Maintenance
If the pond doesn’t have a filter, check to see if one is required. If the pond does have a filter, clean it thoroughly and check all the lines going to and from the pump and kit. Make sure that there is plenty of uninterrupted flow in the pond water.

These are all the items that will really need to be addressed in the summertime. Surely there is plenty more that can be done, but these are the main points that need to be stressed to keep the pond actively responding to maintenance efforts.

Learn more about this author, Tina Samuels.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.