Return to the Bog Garden Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Bugs in the Bog Garden
| | |
Posted by Moogies z8, D/FW Texas (My Page) on Wed, Jun 9, 04 at 6:00
| I have a very wet shaded area just below a stone retaining wall that I've tried to turn into a bog garden this spring. If I dig down 6", there's standing water. So far several plants are doing very well - elephant ears (3' long leaves!), greater blue lobelia, ajuga, cala lilies, ferns, bog sage, sweet woodruff and sweet olive.
Other plants are growing more slowly - Endless Summer Hydrangea (lots of new leaves) and astilbe (leaf edges are turning crispy brown - is this normal for 90 degree weather?)
Lastly, my impatiens are not doing well at all - I think they're just too wet and we've had an unusual amount of rain for the past week - lots of flooding.
My question is - there are lots of bugs (unknown type) that live on the surface on this wet, mulched garden. Is this normal? Is this a mosquito nirvana? They're always flying about as I'm planting, and I just wondered if this is to be expected.
Thank you for any help! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Bugs in the Bog Garden
| | |
| Yes, that is totally normal. Mosquitos thrive in standing water. You can plant a tobacco plant near there and it should kill off most bugs. There are also chemicals you can use... see your local chemist/herbalist... Or deal with the bug bites. |
Bugs out of the Bog Garden
| | |
| Oh, BTW, you can also put fish, salamanders, or others in the water if its deep enough. I used a California Newt and some Guppies to eat all my mosquitos. This is a good alternative to chems. |
RE: Bugs in the Bog Garden
| | |
| sounds more like you just have sopping wet soil. If you don't have standing water more than a couple of inches deep then you probably don't have mosquitos. If you have sopping wet soil then your bugs are not mosquitos, especially if they are crawling around on the surface. If on the other hand you do have standing water get yourself some Mosquito dunks. These are biological little "donuts" that kill the mosquito larvae with a bacteria. |
RE: Bugs in the Bog Garden
| | |
| I don't have any standing water - but the soil is the consistency of very thick oatmeal. It was originally heavy, packed clay and I added peat and compost to it before planting everything - then topped with shredded bark mulch just to make it look nice. I planted the hydrangeas and E. ears "high" and topped them with 2" of compost - just to give them some breathing room - now I wish I'd done the same thing with all the flats of impatiens that are struggling. Guess I won't plant those again, next year, LOL! |
RE: Bugs in the Bog Garden
| | |
| There's a good chance the bugs you have crawling around are fungus gnats. these are common insects in a garden such as you describe. Without standing water (that stands more than a few days)you'll not have mosquitos. |
RE: Bugs in the Bog Garden
| | |
| Try planting a few Droseras, they will love your little bugs and keep you entertained as well. |
|
|
|
|
