WATER GARDEN CALENDAR

Please click on a relevant Month to Find the latest Tips.

Machinery and Sod's Law walk hand in hand through the history of our tormented lives, and pond pumps, filters and U/V clarifiers are that sort of machinery. Waterfalls and fountains can be included. If you didn't put your pool or pond ‘to bed' at the end of the year by cleaning and checking the pump, the filter and the U/V then you've only got yourself to blame when you switch it on and “ it don't work!” So if you didn't do it then, and even if you did or you seemed to have escaped the hand of fate for this year, still give it a thorough check out. Check the trip switch on the outside electrics first. Then have a look at the pump. Take it apart and give it good clean. If it is one of those cylindrical cellar type pumps with the open grill round the bottom, you will probably find it gunged up with tadpoles. Not a pretty sight. (You might want to devise a sort of prefilter - but that's a story for another day). Work your way to the U/V and change the bulb. From thence to the filtration unit and see what delights have been nestling in that throughout the winter. The very least it will need is a backflush. If you haven't got this facility, you will have to get all the filter medium out and give it a quick wash through, with rain water or pond water. I have a leaky bucket that is almost like a colander that I rinse the filter medium in.

If the filter has been working fairly non-stop through the winter you will be surprised at how dirty it is. This was because the biological activity in the filter would have slowed to virtually nothing at low temperatures, but the filter would still be working effectively mechanically. This would mean a build up of sludge without it being digested.

If you have a stream or waterfall, check this for leaf litter and silt build up. The dry spell we have just experienced is a great time for spotting leaks and overspill in the surrounding soil. People with preformed waterfall units will need to check that their units are still well supported underneath as they very often get undermined in heavy rain. If the stream or waterfall has been constructed on made up ground, before the undergrowth around the stream build up, check around the inlet to make sure there is no overspill or consolidation that has caused the back of the waterfall to drop down.
Apart from maintenance (or lack of it) problems, the main thing is the blanket weed, spirogyra, cotton weed – whatever. It is the candyfloss type of algae that gets a start on the rest of the plant life in the pool and just loves that bright sunlight. It also loves water with a high pH. So if you reduce that with proprietary chemicals, although I have a client experimenting with vinegar, you will find that any other treatments are a lot more effective. Most aquatic suppliers have some remedy. Barley straw is effective for certain periods as long as the water is very well oxygenated and the straw is changed at regular intervals of not more than 10weeks. Certain of my colleagues tell me that Barley straw actually ‘pollutes' the water in order to clear it and that there are compounds on the market that remove nutritional elements that blanket weed in particular thrive on. Phosphates are the main culprits and many of these come from ‘run off' from the surrounding soil. Once again these remedies wont work in situations where the pH is above 8.5. When the product comes at well over £30 a tub for one season's treatment, you don't want to be effectively pouring money down the drain just because you pool has got ‘hard' water.

Plants of the month.

On the margins
The Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris and all the species and varieties) are still at it. Brilliant.
The Water Forgetmenot (Myosotis palustris) is also making waves of blue around the pond.
Also there is the Golden Club (Oronitium aquaticum)
In the deep water
The old South African stew ingredient, the Water Hawthorn, Aponogeton distachyos, is flowering its socks off. An amazing plant that comes up from unlimited stygian depths to perform at the most ludicrous times of the year. It still thinks its down in the Cape, nestled in the Fynbos looking up at Table Mountain.
Thinking of bogs, the American Skunk Cabbage is up. Lysichiton Americanum, it looks almost too alien for our water gardens. Its big spathe of a flower is like a starters flag in a motor race and a timely reminder that things have got into gear and now we're cruising!

Seasonal Tips

If you are contemplating a major clean out, this is one of the best times to do it, although personally I'd have done it before the tadpole explosion. If you do it, rescue as much wildlife as possible and leave any debris draining away on the side over night so that beasties can make their way back into the pool. Also treat any fresh tapwater with pool conditioner.
The plants will be coming into new growth. There is still time to divide and replant if you want. You can also feed with a slow release pellet in each basket.
Pool lights can come back out now.
Check the water quality. Many serious fish keepers will do a partial water change of up to one third in order to dilute any build up of salts and chemicals they may have been adding.
As the water temperature gets nearer to 10°C (50° F) you can start feed the fish their normal food. A bit of live daphne would be a special treat or chopped worms, yummy!