A beautiful pond can be the highlight of a backyard. Maintaining that pond is often a challenge, though. Not only do you want to keep the water healthy and clean, but you also need to maintain the pond banks. Luckily, the two are connected and if you spend time maintaining the area around your pond it will help keep the water looking good as well.
Plant The Banks
If your pond’s edges are bare, there’s nothing to catch run-off heading into the pond. Runoff can carry soil into the pond, making the water cloudy and eroding the banks. It also lets more nutrients into the pond water, which can lead to algae blooms.
Planting vegetation along the banks of a pond helps hold soil in place and filters run-off. If you want a manicured lawn right up to the edge of the pond, you can simply use grass as your planting buffer. But a buffer zone that’s at least three feet wide with taller grasses and other plants is much more effective. You can include trees and bushes in your buffer zone, but try to choose ones that won’t drop a lot of fruit or leaves into the pond.
Manage Pollutants
If you want to keep your pond water healthy and minimize algae growth it’s important to keep excessive nutrients and chemicals out of the pond. Maintaining a planted buffer zone to filter run-off will definitely help with this, and there are other steps you can take as well.
You can’t always control what your neighbors are using, but you can take care not to use pesticides, fertilizers or other chemicals right next to a pond. Another thing to consider is nearby livestock. Livestock with access to the pond will muddy the water and their waste adds nutrients that can spike algae blooms. Water birds can also add natural pollutants, so if you’re swimming in your pond you’ll want to keep only one or two pairs of ducks or geese around.
Mow Safely
Mowing around a pond must be done with caution. You don’t want your lawn mower to end up in the pond, especially if it might take you with it. For ponds with little or no slope down to the water’s edge, you can mow along the bank with a riding or push mower and then finish off right up next to the edge with a push mower or string line trimmer. Also, use a bagging mower if possible to keep cut grass out of the water.
For steep embankments, letting the vegetation grow naturally provides a healthy buffer zone for the pond. But if you must cut the vegetation, it’s safer to use a trimmer than a mower since they’re smaller and easier to control. Never use corded electric equipment to mow right next to the water.
Come visit us at Richardson Saw & Lawnmower if you’re looking for mowing and trimming equipment to maintain the area around your pond. We can answer your questions and help find something that will work for your pond area.
