Hints and tips for a bog garden

Most people wonder what the big difference is, between a pond and a bog garden.  Essentially, it’s that a pond contains standing water while a bog garden is just wet ground, so the conditions suit different plants. This means that if your garden is regularly waterlogged in winter or autumn, you might want to think about turning the lowest lying areas of your garden into a ‘proper’ bog garden rather than just a swamp.

Pond plants need a low-nutrient environment with as little organic matter as possible, whereas bog plants like quite the reverse, with lots of nutrients and all the organic matter they can get, in addition, bog plants do not like stagnant anaerobic conditions or drying out , this means you need to pick an area to make into the bog, dig down a little to allow water to gather, then lay a liner to hold the water.  Unlike a pond, a bog needs to drain, just very slowly, so pierce the liner with a garden fork, every few feet and replace the soil you excavated soil, making sure you remove any perennial weeds and/or large or sharp stones.  If your soil is rich it will do as it is, but if it is poor, you may want to incorporate well-rotted but aerated leaf mould or garden compost.  Now lay some paving slabs or flat rocks so you can get around your bog garden easily, and you can move on to choosing your plants.

 

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