Q. This year I installed a garden pond in my yard. How do I take care of my fish and plants during the winter?
A. The great thing about garden ponds is the fact that they do not require a lot of pond maintenance when properly installed. During the cold winter months you only need to be concerned with is that there is a unfrozen area for the gases in the water to escape and the water levels are kept at proper levels.
The fish are tougher than most people think. The cold weather does not bother the fish. As long as the water is deep enough to prevent it from freezing solid, you only need to keep an open spot in the ice so the carbon dioxide gasses can escape. The simple way to do this is by putting a floating pond heater in the water. These pond heaters will keep an area open even in the coldest weather. Most turn off automatically when the temperature is above freezing or you can put it on an outdoor timer. Another ways of keeping the water from freezing is to leave the pump recirculating near the surface. The moving water will help reduce the ice from forming. You can prevent major problems before they happen by periodically checking that the heater or pump is still working. Sometimes the electrical circuit breaker trips or the pump freezes.
Water evaporates even in the winter, so every few weeks you should check the level of the water and add as needed. Look carefully under the ice level since the ice could be frozen above the water level.