Time to Winterize!

Getting your pond winterized in the cold can make you wonder why you have it, next spring and summer will reassure you it is all worth it. Taking care of things now can make your spring a lot easier and increase the chance of your fish surviving the winter.

Here at Finch Family Water Garden there is a lot to winterize.....which makes for some long cold weekends. I have spent most of my weekends since the nursery closed for the season on October 31 working to put things down for the winter.

THE DISPLAY POND:
At the first sign of leaves dropping (in late October) from the massive Walnut Tree in the back yard I put fencing up on the South end of it. While this doesn't stop all the leaves from entering the pond it does catch a large number of them and keeps the ones on the ground from blowing into the pond. Each weekend since then I have spent time removing leaves from the pond, cleaning the filters, pump and Skimmer. I have removed all the hyacinths and discarded them in the compost pile. I moved my tropical plants to the Greenhouse and removed the leaves from my waterlilies. Because the Bog pond is only gravity fed and has narrow outlets I have stopped the flow of water to it. Once the leaves have stopped falling and all is cleaned up I will turn the pump off in the skimmer and only run it occasionally. The main and largest pump will continue to run all winter.

THE NURSERY:
I have been busy cleaning the greenhouse ponds and moving the Tropical plants into them for the extra protection. As I move them in I remove excess roots and cut back the dying plants, cutting them back will be an ongoing process as I want them to glean as much energy as they can for the winter. The Hyacinths and lettuce have been discarded to the compost pile. The Hardy plants will get cut back and stay outside, and I will bring my parent stock up to get the different types of plants consolidated. For the upcoming planting season.

The remaining fish in the retail area were consolidated into one pond so I could unplug as many pumps as I can and only have one pond to clean over the cold winter months.

THE YARD:
The Tropical Plants on the patio have been moved into the house, The Gunnera have been cut back and covered to keep any frost Damage from occurring to their crowns, Sadly the cushions from the patio furniture have been put away for the winter. The leaves have been raked more than once, but still seem to be a ongoing battle but will be done falling soon.

THE PUMPKIN PATCH:
WE have a selection of gourds, and indian corn drying for seed stock next year. The remaining pumpkins are either getting cooked down to Pumpkin Puree for freezing or Broken open and fed to the livestock. While we had hoped for it to be dry enough this fall to till the ground it hasn't been yet. Leaf material and grass clippings from the yard will be added to it and we will move the compost piles into it soon. Plans are in the works for activities for next year.