Easter is here and as Spring begins and the cold winter weather fades away, getting your garden pond up and running again so that it is attractive and functional for summer may seem like a daunting task. However, it doesn’t have to be! Here are some guidelines to follow that will help everyone who has a pond in their garden, especially first-timers.
You’ll need certain equipment, such as a thermometer, fish food, a fish net, planting baskets and soil for any aquatic plants you may have and possibly a vacuum if your pond is large.
Read more on Prepare Your Garden Pond For A Fantastic Summer!…
Retailers are very busy now buying in stocks of winter products for pond owners in order to help them prepare their water gardens for the winter. It is extremely important that pond owners check their pond equipment in order for it to last throughout the coldest months. Fish must be prepared in order to over-winter well so they should be in the best of health to start with, so now is the time to start your preparations.
A bog garden is a beautiful way to landscape a garden or even a backyard and displays water plants naturally and beautifully. It is also a good solution for an area in a garden that is low and tends to collect water. The soil in a bog garden needs to be kept moist at all times, so a pond can be useful with an overflow to feed the damp area.
One of the biggest challenges with a garden fish pond is keeping fish safe from predators. If you aren’t careful, you can spend a considerable amount of money replacing fish that vanish on a regular basis. There is no guarantee that you won’t ever lose fish to predators, but a little planning should help keep them safe.
There are a huge variety of plants to choose from for the garden pond nowadays, coming in practically every shape and size you could ever want. When buying try to think about the overall shape and form you wish to create in and around the water. Ideally have tall marginal plants around the back and sides, with perhaps a bog garden area for amphibians and other wildlife.
There are lots of diseases that may affect pond fish. The key with any disease outbreak is correct and early diagnosis and the swift administration of the appropriate remedy. Even just a day or two of an undiagnosed outbreak can be disastrous, particularly with the more virulent strains of whitespot seen in recent years.
Purchasing your first fish is a very exciting time after all the hard work of building your new garden pond, but there are a few things you need to bear in mind. Try to buy from local aquatic outlets, this will minimize the fishes transport time and the water quality they are used to will be very similar or the same as yours. Look for alert fish that are lively with intact, erect fins and clear eyes.
