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Pond with green lily pad

Including pond and fish care

If you have a pond in your lawn or garden, then, just like most other things, it needs to be prepared to survive the upcoming frigid winter months. This article will teach you how to winterize a pond in your lawn or garden!

Your pond over winter can still survive and a pond net can help you clear any leaves away. Simply move the net, get rid of the leaves and put the net away for the spring. It’s important you do this as you don’t want any bad bacteria getting into your pond and hurting your fish in the spring.

If you didn’t use pond netting then clear the leaves and add a net for next time as it can save time.

You may also want to remove the pond pump from your pond as if the water freezes, it could damage your pump. Protecting your fish pond helps to increase the life of your pump. Remember to drain the water from the pump which can help stop any standing freezing in the filtration system.

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Should I drain my pond in Winter?

No, you shouldn’t need to drain your pond completely as it will probably fill up with rainwater anyway. As long as you winterize your pond then there is no reason for it to be empty.

Keep reading below how we make sure that only beneficial bacteria are living in your pond and how to keep your pond clean.

Winter pond maintenance

Vegetation

The first thing you’ll need to do to winterize your pond is to sort through the various plants growing in and around your pond. Any annual plants that you have growing will need to be sorted out and removed. These include water lettuce and water hyacinth. As for your water lily’s, you’ll need to go ahead and remove them from the pond you are going to winterize.

Next, to winterize the water lily’s, cut off all the leaves and buds, but make sure to save the buds. It’s best to store them in a container of water somewhere inside, and hopefully, they can bloom over the winter.

Now to winterize the water lily’s, take all the stems and place them in a big vat or tub of water and move it to your basement, where they will spend the winter. Make sure to keep the water level high enough to cover the crown of the plant.

Fishies

This next step to winterize your pond can be completely skipped over. The deciding factor is, does your pond freeze during the winter? If it doesn’t, then you can skip on ahead.

If it does, however, you need to make sure to read this section to preserve the life of your fish! First, to winterize your pond and save your fish, prepare a tub of water, preferably from the pond the fish are living in, set it by the pond you are going to winterize, and net the fish out of the pond and place them immediately in the tub of pond water.

This is only needed if your water temperature drops below 60 degrees which could put the fish in danger.

Next, transport your tub of fish into the basement by your water lily’s. Also, don’t forget to put a pump in the tub so that your fish will have air to breathe!

Should I cover my pond in Winter?

The only thing left to winterize your pond is to drain some of the water out. This can be done easily with a pump. Once half of the water has drained out of the pond, you are going to winterize; simply spray it out with a water hose to remove algae and debris.

At this point, you have a couple of options available to you for your pond. You can leave your winterized pond dry, though note that this will required cleaning throughout the winter and when you prepare to use it in the spring.

You can fill it back up with water and let it freeze, which is probably the most aesthetically pleasing option, or you can simply lay some boards over it and prevent anything from getting in it. This is all personal preference when you winterize your pond.

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If you fill it with water, you’re going to have to drain and clean it again before spring, but if you board it up, you’ll have much less work to do to prepare it for the spring season, but it is a little bit uglier.

Just follow these easy tips, and you can winterize your pond in no time! Make sure to be prepared before you start, as you don’t want to keep the fish out of water for too long.

Laura x

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This is how to winterize a pond. Whatever size pond you have, it's important that you look after it in the Winter months ready for Spring by Laura at My Beautiful Mess

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