Thursday, October 23, 2008

Winter Water Gardening Tips

Here's just a little something that I got from the National Home Gardening for all your water gardening enthusiasts on preparing your aquatic garden for winter.
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When frost starts nipping at your garden, it's time to think about winterizing ponds and other water features. The experts at TetraPond offer the following tips:
Cut back lilies and other
deep-water plants to 1 inch above the tip. Replace soil and gravel, as needed.
Move plants to deeper water if you live in a climate where ponds freeze.
Cut back all growth on bog plants surrounding your pond and mulch with 6 inches of straw.
Place tender floating plants like
water hyacinth in a 3-inch water-filled tray and move them to a frost-free shed or greenhouse. (This is a new one for me, I never thought about saving my hyacinths, maybe I'll give it a try.)
When temperatures drop and
fish spend most of their time on the bottom of the pond, stop feeding them.
Clean out leaves and twigs that fall into the pond and remove as much
duckweed as possible.
Use a
de-icer to keep a small area of the pond ice-free. This helps fish survive by creating a spot for harmful gasses to escape.
Turn off filters, then clean them and store them inside.
Spend the time now to keep your water features
happy and healthy—so when spring comes, you'll be ready! Looks like I've got my work cut out for me this weekend ...

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