Photo Credit: Courtesy of TetraPond

Using a net, remove all debris and fallen leaves from the water surface, the pond bottom and around the sides.

There are many steps to winterizing a water garden. By taking the time to do the proper seasonal groundwork in fall and winter, you can ensure you’ll have a beautiful, healthy ecosystem come spring. Here are the steps you should consider when closing your pond for the season:

Prep your pond and plants. As warm temperatures continue to decline, it’s important to prepare your water garden for colder times ahead – and it all starts with a clean pond. The best time to clean a pond is before temps dip below 50 degrees F. (Fish are still active then, and they won’t sustain injury during cleaning.) Using a net, remove all debris and fallen leaves from the water surface, the pond bottom and around the sides. If you have a lot of falling leaves, use leaf netting over the pond to avoid further debris from collecting in the water.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of TetraPond

Leaf netting over the pond will help keep falling leaves and other debris from collecting in the water.

Next, protect your pond plants from the elements. Prune dead stems and leaves from them to prevent decaying during winter. In late fall, remove your nonhardy aquatic plants – like water hyacinths or tropical lilies – from the water. Store these beauties in warm, frost-free conditions indoors until next year.

Move your marginal plants that are growing in baskets and around the perimeter of the pond to deeper water to prevent them from freezing in pond ice. Hardy water lilies can be left in the deep end of the pond over winter. In very cold areas, bog plants should be insulated with straw or a commercial insulation material.

Shut it down. Once your pond is clean and your plants have been cared for and/or removed, it may be time to shut down your pond equipment – namely the pump, filter and UV clarifier. If you live in an area where winters are warm or moderate, you can continue to run your pump to keep the pond surface from freezing. If you live further north, where cold temperatures are more extreme, you should shut everything down for two reasons: First, a running pump will mix colder surface water with the slightly warmer water at the bottom of the pond, where fish take comfort and hibernate for the winter. Second, you risk the chance of diverting water out of the pond and emptying it when flowing water begins to form ice – especially on features like waterfalls or streams.