And will I then be left with a pondful of blanket weed?

Blanket weed (as opposed to green water) can be a real pain and is labour-intensive to remove.

The fish all seem very happy in their new home and needless to say the dreaded blanket weed is already starting to establish itself.

Stop feeding your fish, take out pumps and remove old barley straw bags that helped control blanket weed.

Blanket weed is actually a sign that the water is clean and well balanced, although it is unsightly.

In spite of this the pond was shallow and coated with the thick green slime of blanket weed.

Clear blanket weed, algae and pond debris and keep the pond topped up with water.

Dense blooms of blanket weed or suspended algae may also be removed or controlled to prevent them using oxygen.

Q. Blanket weed caused me tremendous problems in my Koi pond last summer, and I want to avoid the same thing happening this year.

The pond is covered with green mesh shading, but the blanket weed still multiplies, clinging stubbornly to the sides and massing the bottom.

Pond aeration is provided by a venturi and a bag of Clarisan is suspended over the outlet pipe to help control blanket weed.

Some species of algae, such as "blanket weed", can grow up to a foot a day under ideal conditions and can rapidly clog a garden pond.

Soon after they got up - which was always late, which was lunchtime - he and Rufus went in swimming, keeping their feet off the gravelly or slimy bottom and their arms clear of the blanket weed which was like green hair.

Away from work you're likely to find Graham watching DVDs of vintage sitcoms nobody else can remember, standing in his pond clearing out the blanket weed, or staring into space wishing he'd done the property developer thing, just like his TV heroine Sarah Beeny.