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Patchwork bog, various bog containers jointed to one natural looking extendable bog

Last year I started a bog out of several containers and pool liner.
Because of surrounding normal garden limy soil and possible contamination of the bog through heavy rain it is constructed now above normal level.
That’s what it looked like today.

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And that far at the beginning.
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just to get an impression how I did it.
I will continue this in time. But if you are very curious You may have a look at the pictures in this German forum.
http://forum.carnivoren.org/index.ph...baukastenstil/
 
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Materials I already had were a couple of plastic mortar tubs, an old PVC pond, some odd pieces of pool liner, mats of coconut fibre, lime free gravel and sand, and quite a lot of granite curb stones which I had dumped at a friends garden.
At a sand workings place I could get as much stones, raw sand and acidic topsoil as I like for just some tip.
This bog is easily extended without much trouble. For comfortable weeding and planting I created in the centre a pool liner bogs way. It consists of some stones to step on and around these acidic sand and gravel.
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Water level in the different tubs is varied through small drill holes in variable height. Some are without.
Space in between is filled with gravel and or small plastic buckets. The gravel space is covered with pieces of pool liner which lead rainwater into the tubs. These spaces have sometimes mounds of peat and other material which provide more dry places for different habitats within the bog.
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Very cool! Keep us apprised of it's progress!
 
To cover the steep change between two containers I invented this solution. Squeeze or glue some piece of pool liner under the rim of the bucket and then cover it with a piece of coconut fibre to provide hold for moss or other plants.
The pool liner will lead excess water in this case into the pond
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This special piece of wood will be covered like this

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And after a year it looks like this today.

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This piece of wood is in my posession for almost 20 years and all this time outside in the garden. Originally it was in a big fish pond in a bog.
 
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Thats really incredible. Very creative and definitely one of the bes bog gardens ive seen. Great job and thanks for sharing pics! Do you have any more pics of the completed bog?
 
In the first post is a link to a German Forum (G.F.P.) Where I post more frequently, because upload of pictures is more easy and I am a native German.
Again the link
http://forum.carnivoren.org/index.p...beet-erweiterbares-moorbeet-im-baukastenstil/
Thank you for the compliment, I think there are a lot of very beautiful bogs out there. This one is the result of little money and a lot of thinking and of course most of all plenty of luck. Most of the materials have accumulated over many years.
Greetings Axel
 
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Very natural design indeed! I'd love to see more pictures, but the link to the German forum you listed comes up with a 404 Error.
 
Incredible!
 
  • #10
As mentioned before....INCREDIBLE! :clap:
 
  • #11
This is simply gorgeous o_o
 
  • #12
What they said.

Also, do you have to desalinize your coconut fiber mats? I always heard they were saturated with mineral deposits.
 
  • #13
In order to get an access path for the centre part of the bog I filled up a central gap with gravel.

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Onto this some pieces of tough fleece to guard the pond liner against any sharp pieces I might have overlooked.

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After I laid out the pond liner I prepared for the interior of the path. For the big stepping stones I laid out some smaller pieces of fleece and some coconut mats.
Into this shallow bog went for a water reservoir 2 meters of a drainage tube covered with some fleece to prevent sand clogging the tube.

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Then some smaller soft sandstone gravel and sand went into it.
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Finally I had to set some stones for the entrance that my bog-path doesn’t run dry.


The pond liner went over the rim of the small pond and under the rim of the buckets to save excess water for the bog. Every plastic which showed up was covered with coconut mats.
 
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  • #14
That what it looks like now I already showed at the beginning
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The coconut fiber mats stayed for a season outside in the rain and bad weather. But wasnt aware of this possible minaeral and salt contamination by then.
These mats are soaked in latex (Packing material for metal pieces ) I dont know if it did work.
 
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  • #15
In future I would cover the container rims with my handmade ceramic sculptures. The heavy not porous pieces are absolutely frost resistant. The porous ones will have their first winter now.
The discussion about minerals and salt in coconut fiber came just now to my attention when people here started to discuss its merit as substitute for peat a week ago.

I hope the amount of minerals is not too bad in spite the total amount of peat and sand. Sphagnum grows very well. It will leak probably slowly into the substrate becaus of the latex. I can’t do anything about it at the moment just watch and wait what happens

Thanks for the tip Corey
 
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  • #16
No problem, Axel! I only have limited experience using those coconut mats with "normal" plants. It never hurt those. I also read that letting them soak in buckets of soft water or leaving them out in the rain for several months would wash the minerals out. Based on this, I bet they won't give you any problems. Given the size and volume of your setup I doubt a little bit of salt and mineral--should there be any--would cause you any problems anyway.

...and jeepers I am jealous! I can only hope to set up something as awesome as this when I end up in my next house. Congrats and keep us posted.
 
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  • #17
I love this! It gives me some ideas about mine!
 
  • #18
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Winter is not jet here. Another look at my sky eye.
This is a floating part. I made out of styrofoam.
I would have liked to show the making of, but I exausted my albums space. You have to look it up in the german forum. G.F.P.
or in the ICPS forum here in English.
http://icps.proboards.com/thread/6918/patchwork-bog
 
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  • #19
Here is a little update to the bog from last summer
This flowering Cypripedium regia sits in a more shady part with different soil (a little less acidy) It seem to like it and set seed. There are three other species of Cypripedium in there which did flower but slugs deformed the flower.
 
  • #20
Very beautiful!
 
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