Advice needed for bog garden

[greg101]

Ok just after a little advice from the brain crew, i know a few people on here will have the answers. I am looking to put a bog garden in my new raised border. What would i need to do this? I have brought some pond liner for the size i need i am going to put approximately 300mm (1 foot) of soil but what mixture should i put in? We are looking to grow gunneras,papyrus, lillies, hardy carnivorous plants and what you lovelly people can recommend. Also i beleive the pond liner will need some drainage but how many holes and where? The bog garden is approx 4m x 1m. Fdo the holes need to be in near the top or in the bottom? To grow carnivorous plants i beleive they need rainwater only so does this mean i cant initially fill the bog garden up with tap water? I am thinking i will need to install a water butt in the garden to fill it up or can they tolerate tap water? So please advice me on whats the best way to approach this and what plants you recommend. Thanks

[Robin Cassell]

No idea on how to construct etc but...On a recent visit to Ness gardens I saw a stunning plant called bog lantern..incredible colour and exotic looking...maybe Stevie P. can give info on that.would look great in a domestic setting.

[greg101]

was this it?

http://greennature.com/gallery/redwood- ... ntern.html

[GARYnNAT]

Hi Greg, check out Franks thread as he has just built a bog garden

http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... f=1&t=4733

carnivorous plants do need rain water, tap water is a definite no no,

Gary

[greg101]

It looks like i am going to need alot of rain to fill it up then . I will contact frank and ask for some advice thanks Gary

[Frank]

Greg,
You are trying to build a bog with two distinct purposes ......
Certainly the gunnera will want some rich soil/ compost/ feeding to get it really going, sarracenia on the other hand prefer a nutrient poor medium. Traditionally this means a peat and sand mix. Fertiliser is generally a no no as the plants get all they need from catching insects and if you feed them they will decline.
As others have said tap water is no good and neither is boiling tap water, which you may come across in reading. Get a water butt or scrounge rain water from neighbours like I have done or if access is really limited visit an aquarium shop and get some RO water (reverse osmosis) which has all the hardness taken out for your initial filling. I have an RO unit at home because of the fish I keep so it's fairly easy for me to top up should we have a dry summer, very unlikely I know
As to drainage, there were some links in previous threads on bog gardens or look here and the recommendation is to put an overflow a few inches below 'soil' level, i.e. so that the roots are not water logged but the bog can still retain water. I would also make sure that you don't get any 'wash off' from surrounding beds, i.e. that enriched water flows into the bed.

I've only planted Sarracenia/ Darlingtonia California in my bog and have a separate bowl with dionaea muscipula (venus fly trap).
Now I'm no expert on any of the plants as I've only started this year but have provided you with general info to what's out there on the net. If you like the plants join the cpukforum, there is a wealth of info on there which will answer all your questions without even having to ask, just do a search ......

[themes]

It looks like i am going to need alot of rain to fill it up then . I will contact frank and ask for some advice thanks Gary

Talk to Frank

[Owen]

Remember Carnivorous plants need moss peat mix with sand for their soil. I wouldn't advice doing the whole bed in peat- its quite large area to be using peat- especially as most other plants do not require it.

Perhaps put a mini bog within your main bog for the carnivorous plants.

I would suggest piecing the liner on its sides for the carnivorous plants start 6” up the sides- this will leave a reservoir of water in the bottom. However for the bog plants you just want water retentive soil not wet soil so I would piece the bottom of the liner every 12” in a grid to allow water drainage. IN some books people recommend using charcoal to mix in with your soil in the bog bed to keep it sweet- I haven’t had a bog long enough to realise whether it makes a difference.

[greg101]

Thanks for the advice i think i will make smaller sections just for the carnivorous plants this seems the best idea given the difference in soil/peat i need for the different species of plant i also think it will be easier to water a smaller area with just rain water for those plant as the other plants will tolerate tap water a friend of mine is a window cleaner and uses a ro unit so thats where i will initially fill it from.

[Dave Brown]

I have the plants but have not been able to get neat moss peat, it is all peat free or MP compost around here I now have tadples all over the wildlife pond I was going to partly fill in.

Also what about de-humidifier water. That is recondensed water vapour

[Robin Cassell]

Yes Greg...thats the plant..looks more tropical in real life

[Mick C]

I'm glad you started this topic Greg. I am also doing a (very) small bog garden, and followed Frank's reference to the cpuk site, where the advice on water purity was quite revealing. I had planned to have my dinky little pond overflowing into the bog garden, because I assumed that a few nutrients in the water from the pond couldn't hurt much.

Apparently they can, so with much persuasion the dinky little pond now drains away from said bog and not into it. Makes me wonder how the plants survive in the wild, with nobody to clear away dead leaves etc.

I have been sort of following the advice from the CPS:

http://www.thecps.org.uk/content/view/35/40/

- I thought someone else did a link but can't see it now.

Keep us posted on how you get on. There seems to be a fair bit of interest in bog gardens.