Soil for bog garden

I'm in the process of constructing a pond with a bog garden attached,
separated from the pond by an open structured wall so that it stays
moist with the water from the pond. Amongst other things, I want to
grow candelabra primulas.

What is the best soil to use in the bog garden. I'm thinking along the
lines of acid garden soil, possibly including some sub-soil, and with
about 20% peat added. Grit and rough garden compost are also
available, but I don't see the point of adding grit, as drainage is
hardly an issue! I need about 2m^3 of soil, so buying small bags of
compost designed for marginal plants in pots isn't really an option.

--

Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Being one of the world's laziest gardeners my method
was to put in bog plants and let them do the work -
didn't remove dead foliage and let the plants take
over. Worked great.
But this page looks pretty good for info.
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/desig...rgarden/8.html

k :-)

On Thu, 22 May 2008 16:21:45 EDT, kathy <> wrote:

>Being one of the world's laziest gardeners my method
>was to put in bog plants and let them do the work -
>didn't remove dead foliage and let the plants take
>over. Worked great.
>But this page looks pretty good for info.
>http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/desig...rgarden/8.html
>
>k :-)

Thanks Kathy. Useful link.

--

Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Chris,

Will you be running water through the bog, or lettling it simply move
across by a pipe? If the bog is a filter for you, the flow rate could
be an issue. By all means post a pic of the bog as you make it.


Jim

On Sun, 25 May 2008 08:54:31 EDT, Phyllis and Jim
<> wrote:

>Chris,
>
>Will you be running water through the bog, or lettling it simply move
>across by a pipe? If the bog is a filter for you, the flow rate could
>be an issue. By all means post a pic of the bog as you make it.
>
>
>Jim

The bog is going to be just an extension of the pond, with a porous,
permeable holey wall separating water from soil (concrete blocks
wrapped/sealed in black polythene to stop them leaching lime into the
water, and loose laid, i.e. not cemented). The pond has no natural
water flow, is lined with butyl, and will be filled and topped up from
the mains supply from a tap or with rain water from a butt.

I have no plans for fish in the pond as yet, just some water lilies,
marginal plants and whatever wildlife comes along. I guess I'm
concerned that the soil I'm proposing will be too rich for bog plants
and that nitrates will diffuse into the pond giving serious problems
with algae. On the other hand I read that for marginal plants planted
in containers within the pond itself, the soil should be enriched with
compost or well rotted manure, so I'm a bit confused as to whether I
should enrich the bog garden soil with compost or make it lean with
subsoil, and whether I will have a problem with nitrates or not.

Here's an approximate section through the pond. From above, the total
area including bog garden is roughly an oval, about 18 ft by 10 ft,
one third of which is the bog garden.


dividing wall
ground_ level |_________________ __
\___________________________________| /
\ | bog garden /
\_____ _|_______________/
\ Water /
\ /
\_____________________/

Maximum depth about 3 ft.

--

Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

I put composed steer manure (by accident) in just a couple of my plant
baskets many years ago and I had neon green pea soup algae. So I'd steer
clear of manure. Once I removed the baskets, the algae cleared up right
away. Seems to me a bog would be sand or loamy soil then peat moss on top
to get that nice acidic pH that true bog plants love. ??? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

That makes sense for keeping it wet. If you have standing water
anywhere, you might think about mosquito fish. They are small,
durable and much more fun than West Nile.

You could also keep water in the bog with a siphon hose or two. It
would reduce the leeching from between the bricks. You could even set
it up with one-way valves.

Jim

On Sun, 25 May 2008 18:24:07 EDT, Phyllis and Jim
<> wrote:

>That makes sense for keeping it wet. If you have standing water
>anywhere, you might think about mosquito fish. They are small,
>durable and much more fun than West Nile.
>
>You could also keep water in the bog with a siphon hose or two. It
>would reduce the leeching from between the bricks. You could even set
>it up with one-way valves.
>
>Jim

I would be worried that devices such as siphons and one-way valves
would fairly soon cease to function properly in a pond/bog
environment. What I am planning, is to install an overflow from the
bog onto the surrounding garden, with the inner end of the overflow
pipe extending down to the floor of the bog, which would be covered in
gravel. The top of the overflow would come through the liner, which
would be turned up inside a low edging wall, with the soil level in
the bog a little higher than the water level in the pond and the
surrounding ground level. In this way I would hope that any excess
water in the pond (rainwater, for example), would migrate into the bog
and out through the overflow, thus reducing the tendency for diffusion
the other way from the bog into the pond, and at the same time
reducing the chances of the bottom of the bog becoming stagnant. I
hope the diagram explains it.


Soil level in bog raised liner
______________________________________ OOO raised
|OOO edging
|OOO wall
water level in adjacent pond /------- overflow outlet
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - / /------ through liner.
/ / |OOO____ ground level
overflow / / /
pipe------ / / /
/ / /--liner and
gravel / / / side of bog garden
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo/ /o/
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo/ /o/
_______________________________/_/
liner and bottom of bog garden

--

Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net