bog near a vegetable garden

20 years ago

I have an odd elevation change in my yard that is sort of like a U shape, water comes in the top of the U and settles in the bottom of the U. The sides and bottom of the U form the trap for the water.

I have a vegetable garden near the U shape and the excess water causes issues for some of my plants. I plan on digging a 2' by 3' pit, and using some leftover pond liner to retain the water. The pit will probably be deeper that the 6"-8" recommended depth I've seen so that I can get the water away from the vegetable plant roots as much as possible.

Questions:

1)In the spring the bog will get full or almost full sun. Towards the end of the year, when the vegetables get taller, the bog will probably get partial sun, probably not full shade, but more in the direction of the later. Anybody have any plants suggestions for this type of situation?

2)If a carnivorous plant is an option, does anybody know if the insects attracted by such plants are the same types of insects that would act as pollinators for the vegetables?

thx

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Comments (3)

kwoods
20 years ago
That setup definitely will not work for CPs. Carnivorous plants like nutrient poor acidic conditions and are extremely sensitive to chemicals and fertilizer. If you fertilize or spray your vegetables one time you will lose all your CPs from the runoff. Might work for some marginals. The sun turning to sun shade through the season mimics some wet prairie ecosystems.
yarthkin
20 years ago
I agree with Kwoods, wouldn't be a good cp site.

To answer part two of your question anyway, yes the CPs would eat your polinators. Pitcherplants especially like bees and wasps. In mid summer you can sometimes even hear this buzzing coming from all the "victims" piled one on another. They'll even fill so full of bees and other insects that they'll fall over.

Funny thing is that Bees are also the primary polinators for pitcherplants. The plants are just smart enough to send up flowers early in the season before they open their pitchers (so they don't eat their own pollinators!). Hmm, noe all this has gotten me wondering... I wonder if anyone has ever collected pitcherplant honey and what it might taste like! (Also I wonder, if they did, if vegetarians could ethically eat it...)

Lonnie
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kwoods
20 years ago
off topic

Lonnie, studies have been done on Sarracenia liquor and it has been found to have a narcotic effect, at least on insects. Wonder if the honey would contain the same compounds as the liquor?

As far as the ethical dilemma, a lot of nitrogen based fert is derived from... well you know... byproducts, so I guess it would be similar to someone using something like manure, blood or bonemeal on veggies then eating them... no?