Re:CULT:Bog Gardens

          Hi All
               Yes, Iris-L has progressed to routine messages from
          foreign countries, but this maybe a first.  I'm sending this
          e-mail from over two hundred miles out in the Atlantic
          Ocean.

               IRT to bog gardens I've use kiddie wading pools over
          the past few years. Perhaps it is easier to imagine if you
          substitute "bog garden" for "miniature swamp"!  Some people
          are confused about the mechanics, so I try and describe what
          I've done.

          1.  Buy your kiddie pool and get it home (one pig problem!).
          Color doesn't matter because it won't be seen.  Do try and
          stay away from the ones with the slides.  Best time to buy
          kiddie pools is in the fall when the stores are trying to
          get rid of them.

          2.  Dig your hole a little bit larger than the pool and have
          the lip of the pool ground level or a couple of inches below
          ground level.  It really doesn't matter. All you're
          trying to do is to greatly slow the water from seeping
          deep in the ground. Punch holes it the side and bottom.
          Fill with a mixed combination of horse/cow manure, dirt,
          peat moss, alfalfa pellets and other soil amendments.
          Backfill the sides and add water to your soil mixture in the
          pool.  If you're going to use the pool for JI's you don't
          want the pool to be too soppy wet.  JIs like some
          intermittent periods of having their feet dry.  LA and
          others - the wetter the better!

          3.  Plant your beardless plants and cover everything with
          mulch.  No ugly blue pool colors to deal with.

               Another less permanent alternative is to remove all of
          the soil approx one and a half deep in an area.  Take black
          plastic sheeting 6-8mil thickness (clear plastic breaks down
          faster), double or triple fold it and place it in the hole
          you dug.  Punch several holes in the plastic. Amend your
          soil as in #2 above and fill your hole back in.  This method
          tends to break down in 4-5 years because the plastic tends
          to disintergrate and tree roots will be attracted to the
          moist area and will grow thru your plastic. Another item to
          use instead of black plastic is the black butyl liner used
          by roofing companies for flat roofs.  It's more expensive to
          buy, but lasts longer.  Sometimes roofing companies will
          give you smaller pieces that they have leftover as scrap.
          This is also an excellent material for making fish ponds!
          It's the same thing product that garden centers sell as
          fish pool liners.

               Hope this answers all of you questions about making bog
          gardens.  Yes, Rusty, they are mosquito havens, but you
          gotta take the good with the bad.

          Have fun,
          BillSmoot - who wishes he was at the AIS Convention!
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