Crissytal
What is and what should never be
I've been seeing a lot of bog gardens this year being posted on the forum. I finally decided to do one of my own. I took my pond liner, it was a water garden last year, and emptied it out. All my aquatic plants went into an 18 gallon Rubbermaid container. I cut holes in the liner about 3" down all the way around. They are spaced about 8-12" apart. The media is roughly 50/50 peat and sand mix. Originally I had put some wood logs in the bottom to keep from having to use so much media. I made sure everything was well soaked. It rained a few days after. When I checked on it again, I noticed it wasn't holding water like it should. There was no water standing in the bottom below the drainage holes, I dug down to check. I believe the logs were not yet water logged, and pulled most of the moisture out of the media. Trying to top water was a disaster. Good thing I didn't have any plants in yet. I proceeded to scoop all the peat/sand mix out, pulled out the logs and added a reservoir. It has worked wonders! The reservoir actually is taking up more space than the wood logs did. I'm storing the extra media in a 5-gallon bucket. It was almost full! Here are some pictures of the reservoir construction:
I'm not exactly sure how much water the container holds. It's at least a gallon if not more. I used an ice pick to poke tiny holes on all sides.
This shows the container, lid, and PVC pipe , as well as my oops. I got a little carried away with pressure and cracked the plastic. Some clear silicone fixed it up.
Here is everything together.
This is of the side of the pond liner, a drainage hole can be seen about midway the picture.
Here's the bog with media and the reservoir in place.
Entire bog completed with LFS on top with a bit of live LFS. I'm expecting the live LFS to burn in the heat.
Shot showing the PVC pipe. I can check the water level using this and it also assists with watering.
I had more plants than I needed, so I threw together a small mini bog. It's one of those pots with the lip on the bottom.
Completed with LFS with some live scattered around.
Showing the lip.
The larger bog contains:
D. filiformis tracyi x cluster
D. filiformis filiformis x 1
D. binata dichotoma "Giant Form" x 1
S. alata sp. x 1
S. x 'Dana’s Delight' x 1
S. leucophylla 'Tarnok' x 1
S. minor x 1
S. psittacina x 1
S. purpurea x 1
S. x 'Scarlet Belle' x 1
VFT dente x 1
VFT typical x 7
VFT Red Dragon x 2
I've since added a D. aliceae and D. capensis typical. I know they won't survive the winter; I have plenty and if need be I can transplant before it gets too cold.
The mini bog contains:
S. alata sp. x 1
S. flava x 1 that's trying to be dead
VFT Dente x 5
VFT typical x 2
And my small water garden. It's changed since this picture was taken, I've added two more plants. In the picture I have one water lily, java moss (I have too much!), some najas grass (if the java moss hasn't choked it out), and a water plant that made it through the winter. I forget exactly what it's called, I have the tag somewhere. That's just a small pot of the stuff and is just beginning to grow. It gets much larger. I don't think I have a picture of the larger pot of it.
I'll try to get some updated pictures of the bog and water garden tomorrow if the weather permits and if anyone is interested.
Enjoy,
Crystal
I'm not exactly sure how much water the container holds. It's at least a gallon if not more. I used an ice pick to poke tiny holes on all sides.
This shows the container, lid, and PVC pipe , as well as my oops. I got a little carried away with pressure and cracked the plastic. Some clear silicone fixed it up.
Here is everything together.
This is of the side of the pond liner, a drainage hole can be seen about midway the picture.
Here's the bog with media and the reservoir in place.
Entire bog completed with LFS on top with a bit of live LFS. I'm expecting the live LFS to burn in the heat.
Shot showing the PVC pipe. I can check the water level using this and it also assists with watering.
I had more plants than I needed, so I threw together a small mini bog. It's one of those pots with the lip on the bottom.
Completed with LFS with some live scattered around.
Showing the lip.
The larger bog contains:
D. filiformis tracyi x cluster
D. filiformis filiformis x 1
D. binata dichotoma "Giant Form" x 1
S. alata sp. x 1
S. x 'Dana’s Delight' x 1
S. leucophylla 'Tarnok' x 1
S. minor x 1
S. psittacina x 1
S. purpurea x 1
S. x 'Scarlet Belle' x 1
VFT dente x 1
VFT typical x 7
VFT Red Dragon x 2
I've since added a D. aliceae and D. capensis typical. I know they won't survive the winter; I have plenty and if need be I can transplant before it gets too cold.
The mini bog contains:
S. alata sp. x 1
S. flava x 1 that's trying to be dead
VFT Dente x 5
VFT typical x 2
And my small water garden. It's changed since this picture was taken, I've added two more plants. In the picture I have one water lily, java moss (I have too much!), some najas grass (if the java moss hasn't choked it out), and a water plant that made it through the winter. I forget exactly what it's called, I have the tag somewhere. That's just a small pot of the stuff and is just beginning to grow. It gets much larger. I don't think I have a picture of the larger pot of it.
I'll try to get some updated pictures of the bog and water garden tomorrow if the weather permits and if anyone is interested.
Enjoy,
Crystal