MAKING A BOG
 

Putting a bog garden by your pond or anywhere for that matter makes a great project. The best part about a bog garden, other than how great it looks, is that it is virtually maintenance free compared to a water garden or koi pond..

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• Bog plants perform best in a sunny or lightly shaded spot.

• It's best to situate it in a low-lying area. A nearby hose is preferred.

• You can actually make your bog deeper at one end so that you can plant true bog plants at the deep end and some merely moisture-loving plants at the other.

• A plot of land 3' wide by 4' long or smaller is fine for the beginner, with a pit of 16" to 24" deep.

STEPS

1. Mark out the shape of your bog garden with a piece of rope or your garden hose. Make it informal. Remove all the turf/sod with a shovel and discard it.

2. Excavate the top soil (usually 4"-5" down) and put it on a tarp or a piece of plastic next to the excavation. You can mix this in with your " bog soil" mixture.
   Now, excavate the entire pit to the ultimate depth. 1 1/2' to 2' and discard all this soil, as you won't be using it.

3. To make the soil in the pit more water retentive, line the pit with a double layer of black plastic. Spread it across the bottom of the pit, and up the sides working it into the corners.

4. Press all the wrinkles flat and cut the edge all the way around about an inch or two below ground level

5. Punch holes everywhere in the bottom so that the plastic will retain most of the water in the bog but the excess will drain into the underlying ground. This slow drainage will prevent the bog soil from getting too water logged and rancid.
   

6. Bog plants prefer a soil rich in humus so we need to make a mixture of " bog soil". A mixture of 50 % peat moss, 25% compost or cow manure and 25% heavy black dirt works the best.
   

7. For a bog garden 3' x 4' you will need 2-3 bales of peat moss, 4-5 bags of cow manure and three or four bags of heavy top soil. Mix this all together (add in the top soil you saved at the beginning) on a tarp or piece of plastic and fill in the pit to within an inch or so below ground level. This slightly below ground level
   encourages rainfall to drain into the bog.
   

8. Top off the soil with hardwood mulch, don't use pine...and fill the bog full of water with the hose. The mulch helps to reduce the moisture loss and also keeps the weeds down.

With all the humus the soil mix will be springy and almost squishy just like a bog.  In the deepest and wettest portion of the bog you can use true bog plants native to this area, including Pickerel Rush, Arrow Head, Horse Tail, Cattail and Marsh Marigold.

You can also use perennials that like damp soil at the shallow end. Irises, Yellow Flag Iris, Tiger Lilies, Common Ferns, Zebra Grass, Sweet Flag, etc.

MAINTENANCE

Maintaining bogs is almost painless. Depending upon the amount of rain received you might need to fill the bog with water once or twice a summer.
Let the water run into the bog until it overflows.  Be sure to winterize your bog plants with the rest of your aquatic plants.