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Axelrod's Bog Garden

So at my girlfriend's apartment there is a nice section that used to be a garden but was overgrown with weeds. We decided to rip up all the weeds and get a nice veggie garden going. I reserved the last section of fence, just the the left of the azalea bush for a bog garden, this area gets the most sunlight, around 6-7 hours of direct light a day.



I dug down around 2 feet, hammered in some stakes and put a raised 2x10 frame around the outside, making this a sort of hybrid in ground/raised bog. The total area is 3'x6' and around 2.5' deep.



Next went in a layer of sand and a 4mil plastic tarp



And over that the pond liner. This is I believe 14.5 mil thick. Not the thickest pond liner out there but it will do the job for the bog without a problem.



Then began the laborious task of mixing the sand and peat. I chose to do this in layers dumping a bale of peat at a time and a couple bags of sand, then I jumped right in and mixed away with my hands.



And finally it was full



I worked on filling the bog with water today, brought the collection of Sarrs over today, and planted a few in the bog. I'm going to try to get some more VFTs and some cold hardy dews and then plan out a better planting.





Here's some of the rest of the garden
 
Looks great! Quite impressive you were able to negotiate a section of the fence. Haha
 
Looks like it is off to a great start! Did you poke holes in the pond liner, or is it undrained?
 
Looks great! Quite impressive you were able to negotiate a section of the fence. Haha

Haha it took a little work but it's all mine. I even negotiated some space in the regular garden for plants of my choice.

Looks like it is off to a great start! Did you poke holes in the pond liner, or is it undrained?

It's mostly undrained but there are two or three holes cut in the back and right wall about 2/3 of the way up. I didn't cut any holes in the bottom of the clear plastic tarp underneath only on the same level 2/3 up. It may fill with water but with all the weight on top it should be minimal and just drain out the side anyways. Not that any of this will probably be relevant I will more likely than not end up having to water the bog than drain it.
 
I have more than enough Sarrs to fill up the bog but I want to incorporate some other plants as well. I have a few temperate dews, d. filiformis and d. intermedia on the way as well as some VFTs and two temperate orchids, a Calopogon tuberosus and a Bletilla striata. Can anyone recommend some other plant that would do well in a temperate bog. Zone 6?
 
Looking great!
 
Pretty awesome!! I think it'll look fantastic compared to the stuff that was there before!

Your plants are movin' on up!
 
Got more plants in. Some of these sarrs may not stay in here over the winter, some are plants that I'm not quite willing to risk outside in the winter here, S. Leah Wilkerson for example.

Sorry the pics are kinda dark, it was getting late by the time I finished planting yesterday. I got a few more non-cp things in there today, not included in these pics, but those will come. Other plants I added today include Calopongon tuberosus, Hemerocallis 'August Flame', Bletilla striata 'Albostriata', and Gentiana 'True Blue'. I read these all enjoy bog type conditions from the site that I bought them from. I still need to research each individual plant to confirm though. If not I will remove them and provide proper conditions.

Anyways picture time:

Bog:


right side:

there will be a whole bunch more VFTs to fill in that front right corner in a week or two.

left side:


And not in the bog but an awesome Sarr I got and am very excited for, S. 'Adrian Slack':
 
Awesome collection of plants, it looks great now, imagine it in a couple of years!

2qait80.jpg
 
  • #10
Try to ignore the white stuff, it didn't snow, just junk from some tree in the neighbors yard that blew over. Also I'm noticing with some of the heavier rains that the smaller flytraps, dews, and some tags are getting buried/washed away? Dunno what to do about that.

 
  • #11
Looks, great!
 
  • #12
Also I'm noticing with some of the heavier rains that the smaller flytraps, dews, and some tags are getting buried/washed away? Dunno what to do about that.

Use a top covering of LFS where the small VFTs are, I've found it will help tremendously.
 
  • #13
Hi axlerod
Dont worry about the getting buried/washed away, as the substrate settles and compacts, the roots grow and the whole lot consolidates (in a relatively short space of time) that will cease to be a problem. Just keep settling them back till that happens.
Cheers
Steve
 
  • #14
So when pitchers get knocked down by rain or whatever and end up lying on the ground do you cut them off and allow the plant to focus on growing new pitchers or just leave them and allow them to photosynthesize since they're still green. I ask because I'm not a huge fan of the way it makes the bog look.
 
  • #15
I just let them be. That's what happens in the wild, and no one cuts them off in the wild. If you want to cut them off, go ahead, I don't think it will hurt them any.
 
  • #16
looking great! A word of warning tho the junk that blew across from the neighbors looks like Populus Deltoides seed and you may find yourself pulling little cottonwood sprouts over the season. Get em early as they grow fast and the tap root is a BEAST! I am so jelly of your bog tho. I will have to stop in more often for ideas and my bog pics fix. Thanks for sharing! :)
 
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