Creating a Bog Garden for Your Dry Yard

Creating a Bog Garden for Your Dry Yard

Gardeners are constantly reminded to give their plants good drainage and not too much water. But this time you can add all the water you want to create a bog garden.

The plants that grow in these damp soils need the added moisture to survive. Their roots have adapted to the constantly wet and poorly drained conditions.
Bogs can be created in full sun or lightly shaded landscapes where a majority of the wetland loving plants grow best.

Decide how big you would like a bog garden. You can make small gardens just a few feet wide and long near a walk way. Or maybe you would like a much larger garden to feature across a grassy spot easily viewed from the patio. Follow these steps to create a bog garden.

	Select a plastic or rubber liner to hold in some water that fits the size of the garden.
	Use a liner four feet longer and wider to fit the planned excavated site.
	Dig a hole the shape of the liner twelve to eighteen inches deep. Save the soil on a plastic tarp to use later.
	Create a shallow ledge about six inches wide and four inches deep around the outer edge of the bog. Save the sod from this area as it can be replaced if you wish.
	Lay the liner inside the hole and firm it in place to take the form of the bog. Allow the edges to come up the sides and over the shallow ledge.
	When the liner is in place cut the material to take the shape of the ledge.
	Remember bog plants like a wet soil but usually don't grow submerged in water. Make foot long cuts in the liner material three feet apart in one direction across the bottom of the bog. Then move over three feet and make another series of cuts until the bottom of the liner is provided with drainage.

Create the boggy soil with what was removed from the hole. Add compost and peat moss to sandy soils to give it a high organic content as might be found in naturally occurring bogs. Also add the strips of saved sod around the edges or use the enriched soil.
Thoroughly wet the soil to create the boggy conditions. Water drains slowly down through the improved soil and out the slits in the liner. Periodically add more water as needed to the site to prevent drying.
Now pick your favorite wetland plants for the bog garden. Some might include the tall cannas, pickerel plant or papyrus in the back or center of the garden. Then fill in around the edges with lower growing iris, wedelia, spiderwort and pitcher plants. Plant clusters of the bog plants to create bursts of color and lots of greenery.
Create some extra interest with a dead limb that could have fallen into the garden from a nearby tree. Or add a rock that might have surfaced as the organic soils slowly decomposed. Around the edge of the garden plant the more common garden perennials or use a ground cover to creep down to the boggy edge.
Bog gardens need very little care except to add water during the drier weather. When the surface of the soil just starts to dry it's time to dampen the ground. Get it wet then let it begin to drain. Periodically you can give the garden a light feeding with a 20-20-20 or similar liquid fertilizer. Use the product at half strength and only when needed to encourage growth.

July 2004 Plantings

Flowers: Angelonia, ageratum, begonia, blue daze, bush daisy, butterfly plant, cat's whiskers, coleus, crossandra, false heather, fire spike, gaillardia, ginger, goldenrod, impatiens, lantana, marigold, melampodium, Mexican petunia, Mexican sunflower, moon flower, pentas, periwinkle, porter weed, portulaca, purslane, salvia, sunflower, torenia and classic zinnia.

Vegetables: Boniato, calabaza, cherry tomato, okra, Southern pea, Seminole pumpkin, sweet cassava, sweet potato and yard long bean; start transplants of eggplant, peppers and tomatoes from seed in mid July.

Herbs: Anise, basil, bay laurel, chive, dill, ginger, Mexican tarragon, mint, oregano, sage, sweet marjoram and thyme.