How to Winterize Your Home’s Water Features

While you’re preparing your yard for winter, remember to take care of your aquascape. In the spring, you’ll appreciate the time you take now to winterize your water features. You’ll want to handle small water features differently than ponds.

Step 1: Cleaning Up

Your first step is cleaning. First, for both fountains and ponds, you need to remove debris. Use a rake to get if you can’t reach debris at the bottom of the pond. Be sure to clean the water pump too. After cleaning, you could cover your pond with netting to keep leaves out during winter.

Step 2: Deal With Your Plants

Next, decide what you wish to do with your plants. For fountains, you need to remove your plants entirely, however, cold hardy perennials can stay in the deepest part of your pond. If your fountain plants are inexpensive, composting or tossing them is easiest. If you have tropical plants you want to keep, they’re too delicate to survive frost. Therefore, you’ll have to take them inside.

Step 3: Prevent Freezing

Fountains along with their lines and pumps need to be drained to prevent freezing. You may also want to bring your fountain inside so that it’s not exposed to harsh winter elements.

Step 4: Care for Your Fish

Hardy fish like koi and goldfish should be able to stay in your pond with a caveat. You need to keep a hole in the ice on top of your pond. Otherwise, your fish won’t have the air they need to survive. A pond de-icer establishes a whole with heat. Alternatively, an aerator moves the water with bubbles, which also prevents freezing.

At Ambrosio Landscape Solutions, we’re happy to assist you with winterizing your water features and/or your other property maintenance needs. Call us at 203-762-5167.