Why build a 'bog garden' around your pond for wet or damp soil:
Build a 'bog garden' or 'stream edge' to the pond water area:
- Create an extended habitat for wildlife to keep them protected.
- Grow a visual backdrop to your water area.
- If this area maintains damp/wet conditions then it imitates the edge of natural water.
- It acts as the emergence zone for amphibians as they enter and leave the pond at various stages of their lifecycle.
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- build a planted area around your pond or stream
Construction of planting area around the pond:
You can build a bog garden to keep soil either moist or permanently wet:
- Dig out 2ft of soil in a straight sided shape and line the hole with cheap lining material like builders damp proof membrane or old compost bags.
- Add 3” depth of gravel to the base for drainage and then puncture the membrane with a fork.
- Check which plants you intend to plant in this area before you puncture the liner.
- 1 fork piercing per m2 of base area to start with.
- The number or size of the punctures you make in the liner will control how damp or wet the soil stays.
- More holes will make better drainage and planting will be moist plants
- Fewer holes will retain more water and require wet mud plants
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- dig a bog garden around the pond as a straight sided hole
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- add the liner and a layer of gravel then pierce some holes
Which soil should I use for planting near my pond:
- Fill with topsoil and humus rich garden compost if it is a moist area .
- Fill with aquatic compost or a clay/loam mix if it is a wet area .
- Do not use multi purpose compost for a wet 'bog garden' as this contains peat.
- Cut the liner off at the top of the hole so the area can blend into the rest of the garden.
- Finish the edge of the prepared planting area to disguise the detail of the work you have done.
- Hide the edges with rocks or logs so it looks natural.
- This planted area looks like it meets the pond area next to it but they are both enclosed in their own separate linered sections.
- The water from the pond or stream does not flow into the soil area.
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- adding the soil to the bog garden
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- hide the edge of the planting area on the edge of the pond
An old method of building a bog garden allowed water to overflow from the pond into the 'bog garden'.
We do not recommend you build this way because:
- The pond is fullest in Winter when it rains. The 'planting area' is wet from Winter rain too.
- It does not need to receive more water in Winter if the pond overflows into it.
- The 'planted area' needs extra water in the summer when the plants are growing.
- Pond water evaporates in the warmer weather and does not overflow into the surrounding plants when they need it.
Watering the prepared 'bog garden':
- Keep the area as wet as you need by watering from a porous or leaky hosepipe.
- Leaky hose is made from recycled car tyres that leak along its length under low pressure.
- A hosepipe with holes in it soon gets clogged up with soil and blocked.
- Leaky pipe has a stopper at one end so that it will constantly drip when attached to a tap or water butt.
- Water build up forces the water through the holes in the pipe at root level.
- Water reaches the soil under foliage canopy where it is needed.
- Leave hosepipe on to suit the plants in your area.
- Better than using a hose and sprayer which sends water over plant leaves that may then scorch in heat.
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- water using a leaky hosepipe
- This 'bog garden' will provide protection for wildlife species in the emergence zone as they leave the pond and are vulnerable to predators.
- If you encourage frogs to the area they will protect the leaf of Hosta and Ligularia from being eaten by slugs.
- To add the right plants to this area see our Tips and Advice page: How to plant an area with moist plants or muddy plants.
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