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Spring tips for your pond and fish.

Category: Pond project | Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:59 pm

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Nearly time for you to start thinking about doing a spring-clean in your pond. The leaves left over from autumn should be cleaned up off the bottom of the pond before they have a chance to rot in the warmer water. If allowed to decompose in the water, they will become algae food! So use a net or your hands to get them out. If you have a huge build up of leaves and muck you should consider a thorough cleaning. If you just can't stick your hands in that cold water, there are long gloves called Aqua-Hands that will keep your hands and arms from getting wet and cold.

As soon as the water temperature reaches 50 degrees you can start feeding your fish. It is best to start with a wheat germ based, low protein food. Start with an every other day feeding for the first week or so. Then gradually add feedings as the water warms.
Once the water temperature is above 55 degrees consistently you can feed a staple summer food.

F i s h F e e d i n g G u i d e l i n e s.

50 degrees Stop feeding.
50-60 degrees Feed fish 1 X every other day
60-70 degrees Feed fish 2 X daily
70 degrees Feed fish 2 X daily.





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Your pond in spring.

Category: Pond project | Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:49 pm

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Mid-March: First small reddish leaves of hardy waterlilies appear. Bog plants start growing.

Mid-April: Hardy waterlilies first start to bloom. Golden Club, Louisiana Irises, and other early bog plants start to bloom.

Late April-Early May: First leaves of tropical lilies appear. (If they weren't killed by winter cold!!!)

Mid-May: Flowering bog plants will start their summer bloom.

Late May: First blooms from tropical water lilies. First arrow shaped leaves from night blooming water lilies come out.

Mid to late June: First blooms from night blooming tropical lilies.

Start fertilizing your aquatic plants when growth appears. Shallow water plants usually need to be fertilized just once a year with a tablet such as Highland Rim plant tablets. Lilies should be fertilized once a month at first and then every two weeks while blooming in the summer.
It is a good idea to re-pot your aquatic plants in the spring if they are overgrowing their pots. Each plant can usually be divided into many plants. You can tell if a lily has over-grown its pot just by looking at it. The roots will push against the sides and warp the pot. Then they will grow right out of the pot. It is best to divide it and give it some room to grow. If you leave it in its crowded state it will not produce large leaves and will flower less than expected.

Hopefully my pond will come to life again in March and I won't have lost too many plants. However, we have had some really severe frosts here in Scotland so it's going to be a case of keeping my fingers (and everything else) crossed.




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Crocus eating fieldmice.

Category: Pond project | Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:14 am

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October 12th.
Wanted to get all the crocus bulbs planted around the pond today. I had stored them in the shed (in tins) but the fieldmice have somehow managed to open two of the metal biscuit tins, dig through the sand and scoff the lot!! Grrrr.
Obviously the little blighters don't think much of the rest ( iris and amaryllis) though as they haven't been touched. Maybe the mouse with the crowbar went off on his hols!!
Must remember to set the humane trap and then let the wee toe-rags go in the graveyard. Should liven up the sermon on Sunday if they get into the church. LOL


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Pond progect

Category: Pond project | Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:56 pm

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These are the two little ponds I started out with.




I think it's been a success so far!!



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Pond project

Category: Pond project | Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:03 pm

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This is how everything looks at the moment.

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Pond project.

Category: Pond project | Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:36 am

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Everything has come to a grinding halt because of gale force winds and heavy rain.
I've decided to go out to the shed and see what paint we have. I'll paint the downstairs hall to keep me occupied until I can get out and play in the dirt again.
Such a pity as we have very little left to do with the pond - it should only take a full day to finish the mound off - keeping my fingers crossed that the weather improves at the week-end.

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Pond project

Category: Pond project | Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:31 am

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Well looks as though the sun is going to come out after all so I'd better get my wellies on!!!

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Pond project.

Category: Pond project | Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:30 am

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Hello and a warm welcome to anyone reading my blog.

Today it has started to rain which is holding us back. Ian (OH) is also away to a beer festival with our daughter which doesn't make things any easier. I'll try to do as much as I can by myself as soon as the weather clears. Hopefully everything to do with the pond will be finished before winter sets in.

Things to do to prepare for winter.

Water Lilies:
Stop fertilizing hardy lilies when there are no more flowers being produced. The leaves will gradually become smaller and you will notice there are fewer of them. Keep trimming the spent leaves as they yellow. The last leaves of the year will not reach the surface of the water. These should be left on the plant. The pot can be left in the bottom of the pond all winter. Tropical lilies will continue to bloom much longer than the hardies. Keep fertilizing them every 2 weeks until they stop blooming all together. If we have a mild winter, your night blooming tropicals might come back next year. Leave them in the pond all winter to see if they will make it.

Marginal Plants:
Trim off dead growth as needed in the autumn to maintain a nice appearance. When all the foliage is brown, trim back entire plant to about 2" above the water level. If you like the looks of the browned foliage it will not hurt the plant to leave it on there until spring. Some of your hardy plants such as irises may stay green most of the winter. If so, lucky you! Just wait until you notice the plant needs tidying up in the spring before you trim back anything. If you have any tropical marginal plants such as Elephant Ear or Papyrus, you can take them into the house or garage for the winter. As long as they don't freeze you may be able to use them again in the spring.

Floating Plants:
Hyacinth and lettuce will not survive our Scottish winter but you may be luckier. If they do die back then take these plants out of the water as soon as they get brown so that they don't end up on the bottom of the pond with the leaves making algae food for next spring!

Submerged Plants:
Anacharis and hornwort should be left in the pond over the winter. Both are hardy in Scotland. You may want to trim them back if they have gotten very big as any fish you have won't eat them during winter.



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