Bog Garden Mark II

We were alarmed to see that several of our new bog plants were looked decidedly unwell in the new bog garden. Consulting our various books we discovered that what the garden centres call 'bog plants' generally mean plants which like damp conditions, but not water logged. It never occurred to us that our bog garden should not be boggy! What we have created is a marginals garden, for plants which like their roots permanently in water.

So we decided to add a bog garden which will be damp but not wet, to accomodate our 'bog' plants. This bed is lined with plastic bags, but we have stuck the garden fork through them to provide drainage for any excess water that is not held in the soil. Now that the pond is full I have been able to build up the sides at a couple of low points so that they are perfectly level. The pond should now overflow into the bog garden bed when we have prolonged wet weather, keeping all the plants happy.


Caroline filling the bog garden with soil.