Your Garden Questions Answered
Your Garden Questions Answered
Episode: #4 14/04/07
Presenter: Melissa King
If you want to create your own little oasis for the patio or balcony, a miniature bog garden is the perfect way to do it. It doesn’t require a lot of water and you still get that feeling of lushness in the garden.
Start with a water bowl that is either glazed on the inside or fired at high temperatures to hold water. Most don’t have a drainage hole in the bottom, but if it does, you can seal it over with a bit of silicon. To give you planting options, most bowls are around 60-80 cm in diameter, but you could go right down to a single pot if you wanted to highlight just one particular plant.
There are a couple of ways that you can create a potted bog garden, one is to keep the plants in their pots and then backfill with pebbles and the other is to physically plant them.
Start with a layer of loamy soil that is heavy with little organic matter. About 200 mm should do the job. Then get stuck into your planting.
Choose a variety of bog or semi-emergent plants, that are happy half in and half out of the water. Look for plants which offer different foliage colours and textures. Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus prolifer) makes a perfect centre piece at the centre for height, surrounded by plant of different textures and foliage size. Japanese Sweet Flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Variegated’) and the floating feathery foliage of Milfoil (Myriophyllum varifolium) make a nice combination.
It is at this stage that you need to think about feeding. Use a slow-release fertilizer capsule or tablet, specifically for water gardens. Just insert it into the soil close to the root system and 1 tablet per plant will do the trick.
Then just top it all off with a layer of fine pebbles. The pebbles not only look decorative, but also prevent the soil from dissipating into the water and turning it cloudy. Then gradually fill the bowl with water. You can always use fresh water from your shower bucket.
Using bog loving or marginal plants means they will be happy with the water level only just above the gravel, so there you have it, your own little miniature water garden for a sunny spot on the patio.
Now for this weeks water saving tip:
A bucket is the latest shower accessory! While the shower is warming up, make sure you collect precious water before it goes down the drain, to use on the garden. Your plants will love you for it.
Episode: #4 14/04/07
Presenter: Melissa King
If you want to create your own little oasis for the patio or balcony, a miniature bog garden is the perfect way to do it. It doesn’t require a lot of water and you still get that feeling of lushness in the garden.
Start with a water bowl that is either glazed on the inside or fired at high temperatures to hold water. Most don’t have a drainage hole in the bottom, but if it does, you can seal it over with a bit of silicon. To give you planting options, most bowls are around 60-80 cm in diameter, but you could go right down to a single pot if you wanted to highlight just one particular plant.
There are a couple of ways that you can create a potted bog garden, one is to keep the plants in their pots and then backfill with pebbles and the other is to physically plant them.
Start with a layer of loamy soil that is heavy with little organic matter. About 200 mm should do the job. Then get stuck into your planting.
Choose a variety of bog or semi-emergent plants, that are happy half in and half out of the water. Look for plants which offer different foliage colours and textures. Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus prolifer) makes a perfect centre piece at the centre for height, surrounded by plant of different textures and foliage size. Japanese Sweet Flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Variegated’) and the floating feathery foliage of Milfoil (Myriophyllum varifolium) make a nice combination.
It is at this stage that you need to think about feeding. Use a slow-release fertilizer capsule or tablet, specifically for water gardens. Just insert it into the soil close to the root system and 1 tablet per plant will do the trick.
Then just top it all off with a layer of fine pebbles. The pebbles not only look decorative, but also prevent the soil from dissipating into the water and turning it cloudy. Then gradually fill the bowl with water. You can always use fresh water from your shower bucket.
Using bog loving or marginal plants means they will be happy with the water level only just above the gravel, so there you have it, your own little miniature water garden for a sunny spot on the patio.
Now for this weeks water saving tip:
A bucket is the latest shower accessory! While the shower is warming up, make sure you collect precious water before it goes down the drain, to use on the garden. Your plants will love you for it.
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