In the aviation is the hum and buzz ofmayfliesandmidges , followed by a Hero of Alexandria ’s sudden rushing to fledge . It ’s gay than you ’d think , here in the peat bog . Water peeks through bunch of evergreen shrubs . A startling red salamander darts across a bed of moss . A carnivorouspitcher plantsnaps shut on an unsuspicious fly front .
Bogs and other types of inlandwetlandsappeal to a caboodle of dissimilar mass . The gothic among us , dark romantic and rooter of the epical legend " Beowulf , " are drawn to creepy story of bodies with skin and inner organs still intact , preserved for centuries in the acidulent ground of peat bog [ author : Tyson ] . religious mystic and the spiritually inclined are attracted to the primary nature of peat bog . The means they purify and preserve and sometimes even burn can fascinate . Conservationists and environmental activist credibly reckon themselves as the with child fans of peat bog and other types of wetland .
A bog ’s slight and interconnected ecosystem performs a multitude of essential and too often pretermit functions . Bogs are critical in keep in line flooding , for instance . Countless creature populations rely on them as a home ground for themselves or for other populations upon whom they ’re drug-addicted . And finally , wetland are home to many rare and alien plant species , including the carnivorous sundew and the northern pitcher plant [ source : Environmental Protection Agency ] .
A instinctive bog can take hundreds – sometimes 1000 – of class to form . A committed nurseryman , on the other hand , can create a in truth sensational bog garden with only a month or so of careful provision and hard body of work . Take a look at the next discussion section to see how a lilliputian fade of the bog might work in your own backyard .
A Bog in the Garden?
A course occurring bog forms in a duo of different room . Sphagnummossmay fawn over the control surface of a lake or pool and slowly fill it over century of year . Or moss can smother a low - lying domain of wry land , foreclose surface moisture from vaporise . No matter which way a naturally occurring bog forms , the end resultant role is a very specialised character ofwetlandcharacterized by an extremely inhospitable soil that ’s highly acid and nutrient - poor [ reference : Environmental Protection Agency ] . Since honest bogs have to be water with either distilled water or rain water , and because their finicky pH levels must be maintain within narrow perimeter , only the most dedicated gardener or conservationist would attempt to play a true bog in the garden . Therefore , the full term " peat bog garden " refers more broadly to any squashy or miry area whose soil is always dampish , but never flood [ germ : Burrell ] .
In a body of water garden , plants grow in standing water . peat bog - adapt plant , however , do best with moist roots and dry crown , leaves and flowers . Many bog plants are also sun - be intimate . A bog garden can require up to six hours of good sunlight to really thrive [ source : Fisher ] . And while the proliferation of bogs in places like Ireland and Finland may lead people to think of them as cold , damp places , bog gardens can also thrive in hot , humid climate . On the other hand , hoi polloi in juiceless , arid clime might prefer to try their men at bog horticulture in containers , since the effort and expense of maintaining the H2O level in a larger bog garden will likely outweigh the joy of create one .
Bog gardens work best when they ’re developed with a design in mind . Tossing some moisture - loving bulbs into a soggy surface area of your chiliad does not name a proper peat bog garden . Some of the most gorgeous bog garden are created in social club to give an side by side pond balmy , natural see edge that blend into the landscape . Other bogs exist as opportunities for adventuresome botanist to cultivate rare , alien and even carnivorous plants . Still other bog gardens serve a pragmatic purpose by turning a soggy , debatable area of a yard into a engrossing and working home ground .
Once you ’ve pick out an approach , it ’s metre to snaffle a shovel and start dig . See the next section to see how excavating a bog garden works .
Dig In: Excavating and Choosing a Pond Liner
Bog garden make for considerably in cheery , low - lying spots . A unmanageable , soggy sphere in your curtilage where water collects is quick - made for peat bog horticulture . The bottom of a slope or an area near your house where the peat bog could catch runoff from the roof would also make well . bog are often cultivated along one or more side of a pool to create soft edges that transition naturally into the landscape . You would n’t want to put a bog on a hillside or in full shade .
Bog garden necessitate quite a bit of work at the kickoff . The first gradation is to get the picture out a trench with a flavourless bottom and slenderly pitch sides , setting aside the dig up soil on a tarp . The big and deep the jam , the less maintenance the bog garden will want – at least in terms of lacrimation . A depth of 18 to 30 inches ( 45.7 to 76.2 cm ) ought to do the magic [ source : Burrell ] . If you happen to have a pool , give it soft , natural looking edges by connecting either an independent or an attached bog garden [ source : Fisher ] .
By far the cheapest and easiest way to describe a bog garden is with an artificial membrane . Just calculate the size you need , repose it equally inside the deep and hide the edges under rocks or cascading flat coat cover . You could also use a hard cuticle ocean liner or even aplasticpool . If you hit clay during the excavation process and do n’t mind a lot of supernumerary work , you’re able to remove some of it and use it to create a watertight basin for your bog garden . Mix the clay with a little water system until it is tractile , and then smooth it over the bottom and sides of your trench , using a rammer or a backbreaking tamping tool to tamp down it down [ source : Perry ] . You could also useconcreteto line your bog garden ; however , if you go this route , confabulate with your local garden center , since some root suggest blend the cementum assortment with other substances such as sand or washed shingles .
Now that you ’ve seen what sort of watercraft it take to put up an in - ground bog garden , rent ’s fill up it with grunge and talk about how to keep it watered .
Drainage, Water and Soil for Bog Gardens
The bottom of a bog should be unassailable . However , the top foot of a peat bog require a bit of drainage . Simply poke or drill small gob through the liner at even intervals along all sides of the top 12 inch ( 30.5 centimeters ) of the trench . This will keep a bog ’s topsoil relatively dry and ensure that the crowns of plants do n’t freeze or decompose [ origin : Burrell ] .
Because a peat bog needs to last out evenly moist at all times , it ’s significant to integrate a method acting of watering into the peat bog design . Here are three simple ways to keep a bog garden moist :
Many on-key peat bog plants are adapted to thrive in short , nutrient - deprive stain ; standardcompostis generally too rich for them . If you require to cultivate peat bog - adapted plants , most sources suggest filling the peat bog with a mixture of peat moss and sand [ source : Fisher ] . However , a wide array of non - specialized bulbs , perennial and shrub can also prosper in always moist conditions . If these are the plants you desire to grow , satiate your bog garden with a mixture of 50 percent excavated soil and 50 percentage compost [ generator : Burrell ] .
The eccentric of soil you choose will calculate on the kinds of flora your bog will stomach . In the next incision , we ’ll research unlike kinds of plant that work well in bog gardens .
Bog Plants: From Flowering to Flesh-eating
Here are a few of the more popular plants that flourish in bogs :
Sun - loving bog perennial
Shade - tolerant peat bog perennial
Carnivorous and specialized peat bog plants
Unscrupulous plant life vendors sometimes gather these species from the risky , damaging their fragile habitat . Make certain to aver that your carnivorous and specialised bog plants were propagate in a greenhouse .
Other peat bog plant
A huge variety of plants , bulbs , grasses , trees and shrubs have adapt to develop in dampish conditions . Bog maple , bog cypress , bog rosemary and sort of lily , Narcissus pseudonarcissus andnarcissusare but a few of the many other peat bog plant worth exploring .
Now that your bog is planted , curb out the next segment for info about maintenance and creating container bog gardens .
Bog Garden Maintenance and Container Bog Gardens
The type of maintenance your bog garden call for will be heavily subordinate on the form of bog garden you have . A non - specialised bog is fairly simple to maintain . If you have create specialized bog garden , however , the sustainment is a bit more tangled .
Once a non - specialized bog garden is show , it ’s not all that difficult to maintain . The very conditions that make bog gardens inhospitable to non - altered plant also make the home ground undesirable for many of the weed that plague " regular " gardens [ source : Burrell ] . Give your peat bog garden the once - over every so often and pluck any weed and tree seedlings before they get set up . If freezing is a business concern , look up with local professional about how to winterise your peat bog garden . Watering is the biggest care with bog alimony , so verify you have a watering architectural plan in place .
A lifelike bog soma when sphagnummossdecays , slowly choking a low - dwell , quaggy area with acidic peat . These are the condition you ’ll have to double to make specialized bog garden at domicile . Because a specialised bog must be water with distilled or rainwater , be sure to enforce a tearing design . The astuteness should be no more than 2 feet ( .6096 meter ) , and it should be filled with a mixture of Baroness Dudevant and peat moss . Ideally , you would and top a specialised peat bog with a layer of populate sphagnum moss , which can be difficult to come by . confer with your local garden centre for aid .
permit your specialised bog settle for at least a month before planting . Failure to do so may damage Modern plant . You ’ll also want to rinse the roots of your industrial plant before you to install them . Once plants are in , you will start an on-going game of cat and creep with your peat bog ’s pH. It must appease highly acid in order for industrial plant to thrive [ source : Burrell ] .
peat bog are the consummate habitat for nut - laying insect . Some of these , such asbutterflies , may be desirable . Others , such asmosquitoes , are a terrible nuisance . Fish in an conterminous pond may serve to keep insect populations down . Insectivorous plants will also aid rid the garden of pests . Mosquito dunks made with a microbial larvicide likeBacillus thuringiensis israelensis , a bacteria that occurs naturally in soil , are safe and work for up to thirty days [ source : Environmental Protection Agency ] .
Still have questions about how bog gardens lick ? We reply a few of them in the next division .
Bog Gardens: Things to Consider
Here are just a few of the thing you might require to consider before you take in charge build a bog garden .
peat bog are one of nature ’s curiosity and they make a great addition to any garden . So grab a spadeful , let loose a chorus of " The Rattlin ' Bog Song " or another of the many bog - interrelate Irish folks tunes , and dig in .
