Tula's BBB ( baby bog build )

[addy1]

Looking good! The iris looking things are the Japanese varigated iris, real pretty lilac flowers. They only get 12 inches tall or so. Make sure they don't get overwhelmed by the other plants. The stems look like my water willow, check what you got i.e. the list. It is not growing yet.

My red stem froze and kept growing all winter, not under a cover out in the open. Now we did not have a real cold winter but there was ice on the hot tub pond.

 

[Tula]

Looking good! The iris looking things are the Japanese varigated iris, real pretty lilac flowers. They only get 12 inches tall or so. Make sure they don't get overwhelmed by the other plants. The stems look like my water willow, check what you got i.e. the list. It is not growing yet.

My red stem froze and kept growing all winter, not under a cover out in the open. Now we did not have a real cold winter but there was ice on the hot tub pond.

Do you think the plants look pretty good for the time of year? I have nothing to base it on as it's our first Spring. I will probably look online, but don't want things to get over grown.

I worry a little as there are a couple spots with algae in the bog, but will be patient. Also if I stick my fingers into the pea gravel, it disturbs brownish water....should I be concerned?

 

[Tula]

I'm so happy to see my koi !

 

[addy1]

Do you think the plants look pretty good for the time of year? I have nothing to base it on as it's our first Spring. I will probably look online, but don't want things to get over grown.

I worry a little as there are a couple spots with algae in the bog, but will be patient. Also if I stick my fingers into the pea gravel, it disturbs brownish water....should I be concerned?

They look like mine just a bit behind. You have been colder than us, we have been warm. The water willow is just starting to bud, my iris are about 4 inches talls.

The water will be brown anytime you disturb the bog, it collects fine particles of dirt and when walked in, plants pulled it will pour back into the pond. With mine within a day it is back to crystal clear. I also get a layer of dirt on top of the pea gravel. The algae will grow in the bog as the plants take off it disappears.

When I work the bog hard, ie yanking plants, I can make the pond so full of muck you can't see anything. The next day crystal clear again. I don't worry about it.

You can take quilt batting mess around putting it under the water flow back into the pond, try to suck it out. I did once, never again, not worth the effort. The bog cleans the water just fine.

 

[GBBUDD]

Any ideas on how to naturalize it more

For exposed liners heres a couple tricks I have learned. if the liner in high enough and you dont think too much water will reach it. i have used the non woven fabric to place over the rubber and i rubbed moss over the dampened fabric, a year later its covering the fabric looks realy nice.
another trick is to use foam in a thin layer. and when it's still tacky not too soft you can put sand or fine gravel on verticals sprinkle it on and push it into the foam . Bark that you can find peeling off fallen trees.
Moss moss and more moss.
lastly is a product called rock on a roll its basically rubber with the sand commercially installed onto the rubber. Splice adhesive /primer could work well too.
I haven't tried to sprinkle sand onto the primer yet but I know it can as some has slipped in while sealing.
One other thing I have done that was an added bonus was to p
make pockets with the rubber on the outside of the rock edging and plants that like to sit in still pockets with some soil thrive and soften the edges of the pond.

 

[Tula]

Thank you @GBBUDD , I was hoping you'd respond.....you're the master at making things look natural !!

Our weather is up and dow, temperature wise....so we alternate between indoor projects and the bog. I have a ton of moss growing under our water fall. I will have to look at how I could place it in and around the liner as the water returns to the bog.

You've given me good things to think about. We have lots of great rocks, some drift wood and moss.....so I'm hoping these things will help.

I looked at William Trickers site and wanted to order an aquatic cardinal plant and an aquatic forget me not and 3 taro bulbs. The shipping seemed high at a little over $15, but perhaps that's typical. I haven't ordered anything yet.

 

[poconojoe]

Great ideas concerning hiding the liner! I love moss and laying a felt like fabric for moss to attach to is a great idea!
Our marsh Marigold plants are coming alive here in northeastern PA. They are our favorites. They grow larger and look better every year and are very winter hardy here in zone 6. We can see our iris rising out of the water too. The pond is finally starting to show a spark of life!
I want to get out and start the bog build, but with all the virus restrictions, I don't think I'll be able to get the materials I'll need for a while. I'll reluctantly have to start up the pressure filters until restrictions are lifted and I feel safe enough to go out.
Stay healthy all...

 

[GBBUDD]

The shipping

shipping costs seem to have gone through the roof lately. i think part of it is to slow people from buying things and having a box shipped from a hot zone. like addy said she leaves packages outside for a few days. cant do that with plants but could always spray bleach onto the box it kills the virus in a minute.
Thanks for the compliment it's all trial and error. Moss that's growing next to the water fall probably will die without lots of water a spayed constantly. look around when you see moss at the edge of a tree line in the sun will probably fair better.

 

[poconojoe]

I have transferred moss from all over our yard onto rocks around the pond. Just peel it off, stick it on and wet it. It works real good on the waterfall rocks.

 

[GBBUDD]

One other thing I thought of is cork in sheet form that could look very cool and could provide milks and crannies for plants moss mushroom to grow. that's something I'm going for this year try and get mushrooms growing. there are soooooooo many sizes shapes and colors but they usually dont last long.

 

[GBBUDD]

Careful what you ask for... open the link with your photos below i added type to a couple of the photos

These pictures show more rock work. We haven't cut any liner yet and have quite a bit of it. There is also a picture of the red stemmed parrots feather from @addy1 that grew steadily over the winter under the pond cover. All I did before winter is tuck some into a small mesh bag and tie it to a pipe, leaving it floating in the pond.

Hubby is also building an extension to the structure that hides our hideous sand & gravel filter. We'd hoped to move and replumb it, but found a tree stump in the area we wanted to move it to.....so this is our cosmetic solution....painting will commence once warmer.

Also, the "Fab Four" are happily swimming around the pond looking so beautiful...and approaching 16 years in the pond ! I gave them a light feeding last night and felt my blood pressure drop....so calming.View attachment 127055The first pic here i can see the rubber in the back dig out an area under creating a pocket let the rubber down and back up the other side throow a plant in there and no more liner in a year add a little stone some of this size some of that size in nature rarely do you ever see just one size of river rocks theres always the odd ball . that goes for the bog as well put a drift wood or boulder a few base ball sized rocks in the bog the water and plants will grow right around them and in time you'll never know they were there. You'll want to paint the pvc pipe the sun will make it very brittle in short time in Arizona etc it actually will look burned . "Nice rock work " food for thought i love the character the rocks have the one on the left has a perfect indent like it was crying to be the corner piece . View attachment 127056
If you have enough rubber can it be secured to the GREEN wall and fill with soil or river rock ? some creeping jenny running over the edge running into the pond.View attachment 127057
View attachment 127058In the upper pic it looks like your water is running under the rock ? if you can let a little leach out to the left where that rubber is not alot just a little to keep t moist and some moss thats doing well around your falls or a stream i'm finding out the bright green moss does well sitting in such a place even in full sun so long as it has plenty of water . Brian from aquascapes has done things like a small pipe to let water get past damns nice trick . oh and if you don't know about it the waterfall foam can direct water where you want it to go and not go. I have it in the bottom of the log with the latest video i just posted it's already turning from gray to yellowy green . i alowed some water just a tad to get past and drip out the end of the log in the evening when the sun sets it's like it's dripping diamonds from the light. View attachment 127059View attachment 127060

 

[Gemma]

Your bog project turned out great!

 

[Tula]

Your bog project turned out great! View attachment 127096

Thank you ! We still have quite a bit of landscaping , or should I say "bogscaping" to do....but that is largely an enjoyable project.

 

[GBBUDD]

I was reading back on this post admiring your home. cant believe you have to newfies my bud had a great big boy who desided the ostrich leather on his harley seat looked like a chew toy. We left him to his situation. I think newfies are where the saying big love bug came from .

 

[Tula]

I was reading back on this post admiring your home. cant believe you have to newfies my bud had a great big boy who desided the ostrich leather on his harley seat looked like a chew toy. We left him to his situation. I think newfies are where the saying big love bug came from .

Oh I love my newfies.....they are like potato chips...nobody every has just one ! I'll look for and post some more recent pics of our two!