Caring for Your Garden Pond This Autumn

Autumn is a time of change in your garden and preparing for the colder months is crucial at this time of year. Nowhere is this more true than in your garden pond. Follow our advice and all the plants and creatures that rely on your pond as a habitat should survive the winter and thrive next year.

Care for Your Water

The most important job at this time of year is to keep your pond water free of leaves. Use a fishnet to scoop out fallen leaves. If they are left to rot, then not only do you get a stodgy mess, but they can give off poisonous gases that can be harmful to fish. Think when you last changed your pond water. Small ponds should be drained and refilled every five years. Larger ponds, once a decade. Autumn is the best time of year to do this as there is less wildlife about.  

Care for Your Plants

Clear out your oxygenating pondweed. This important plant will have multiplied over the summer and, if left untended, will become suffocating for the other plant life in your pond. Pondweed is a great addition to compost. Cut back all the plants and reeds that have grown up around the edge of your pond. They will sprout again in the spring. 

Care for Your Wildlife

Fish will die if your pond ices over completely for a length of time. You can prevent this by installing pond heaters, or you can leave a ball floating in the water that will prevent the ice from forming a complete sheet. Never smash ice: this panics the fish and they will often die of fright. Your pond may attract some native wildlife. Frogs, newts and dragonfly larvae are all cheerful residents of the garden pond. If you see a toad, you are especially lucky - they have recently been put on the endangered list.

If you don’t have a garden pond, but would like to try your hand at growing aquatic plants and establishing a habitat that supports our amphibian friends, remember that we dig ponds as part of our garden landscaping service. Call us on 01603 360538 or send us an email at enquiries@knightslandscaping.co.uk to book an appointment.

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