Warm weather at last (temporarily at least)! I was able to get out this past weekend and start cleaning the pond up. I pulled all of the leaves and dead plants out of the skippy filter, but I am stumped about what to do with the watercress. The cress I have in the pond itself has some green leaves and looks alive (although thin and scraggly). However, the foliage of the stuff in the skippy is mush. I was going to pitch it in the compost pile, then I noticed that the roots actually seem like they are still alive. What's going on? I heard that watercress can live through being frozen solid (and the stuff in the shallow areas of the pond definitely WAS frozen solid at one point),and there was water in the skippy all winter, so it couldn't have dried out. I don't know whether to a)throw it out and start over - which seems like a simple solution until you see the mass of roots in the skippy that could possibly start filtering water ASAP! or b)leave it in and hope that it grows and doesn't rot! And if I do leave it in, what should I do about the mushy foliage? It would be impossible to pick all the mushy parts away from the roots. Has anyone had this problem? Is it a lost cause? And if it is really dead, what killed it, since the stuff in the pond is perfectly fine?

By the way, happy early spring! :)

Jill