Pond Myth # 9

Pond Myth #9: You cannot have a pond where there are a lot of trees.

In nature, ponds and trees go together like ham and eggs on a breakfast table. Yes, you will have more leaves in your garden pond in the fall but, by the same token, the shade provided by the tree(s) will help minimize the algae bloom in the summer. Furthermore, if you have a skimmer sucking the top quarter inch of water off the top of your pond, it will pull most of the leaves and related debris into an awaiting net. This takes about 30 seconds to empty, and it can be a daily maintenance task in the fall if your pond is close to trees. Add it all up and it's a trade-off that most full-sun water gardeners would love to have! So don't worry about trees and ponds. They're fine.

Temporary netting during fall

Fall netting is an easy pond maintenance process.
A net is stretched across the pond and anchored with rocks and/or pins in the garden. It is best not to have the net resting on the water surface since it will be difficult to remove with all the debris on it.

Once all the leaves have fallen then the net is removed for the winter.