deptg of bog for small plant focused pond?

TheFishGuy

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I may not be allowed to put any more ponds on my property, but our family friends want a small ( a couple hundred gallons is what I am thinking ) plant focused pond, and quite honestly they love their neighbors hideous pond, so when they asked me to construct it I didn't have many concerns.

I will start a build thread in probably a couple weeks or a month when I actually start construction, however for now I am in the planning stages, and currently wondering what the depth of the bog should be.

I know it really should be like 18 inches or so, however 18 inches is probably about what the pond depth is going to be, and so I am worried that would look out of proportion, my question here mainly entails, would a 9 or 12 inch bog be any good, and what plants would you put in such a shallow bog?


Thanks all!
 

addy1

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There are a lot of plants that don't send roots deep: blue forget me not, water mint, some iris, creeping jenny, obedient plant water willow, easy to pull shallow rooted, great for filtration. I would try for at least 12 inches if not a bit more.
 
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Id give them tiers the 18 in the center with two tiers one off to each side that might be 12 and a couple others that actually round out in front of the deeper areas and have hardly any water like less then 4" so you can plant things like carnivores or even spagnum moss . take them on a virtual tour of bog plants see what they like
 
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The consensus is your bog gravel should be at least 12 inches deep, more if you like, but not neccessary.

As far as looking out of proportion, the bog only needs a surface area about 30% of the pond's surface area. So, it shouldn't be out of proportion. It's basically 30% of the pond.
 

TheFishGuy

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Id give them tiers the 18 in the center with two tiers one off to each side that might be 12 and a couple others that actually round out in front of the deeper areas and have hardly any water like less then 4" so you can plant things like carnivores or even spagnum moss . take them on a virtual tour of bog plants see what they like
That what I am planning, probably at least half of the surface area will be a 8/6/4 inch area for marginals and such.

And I will definitely put together a list of some of the bog plants I am planning :)
 

TheFishGuy

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The consensus is your bog gravel should be at least 12 inches deep, more if you like, but not neccessary.

As far as looking out of proportion, the bog only needs a surface area about 30% of the pond's surface area. So, it shouldn't be out of proportion. It's basically 30% of the pond.
Sounds like I will be going with that 12 inch mark! and reading through you peoples bog builds sounds like I should do about a 4" edge above the water level for growth and stuff diverting water flow.

I think I might be planning about a 50% bog area, as they really want to be able to plant quite a few plants, and just replaced a couple of their garden beds with a chicken coop, so being able to provide a basically maintenance free area to plant some stuff like tomatoes, and of course the other more standard bog plants would be nice :)
 

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