Hi daesaflgatorfan,

You'll need to purchase a few items to turn it into a bog. Buy a flexible pond liner (rubber like fabric), bag of sand, and a bale or so of long fiber sphagnum moss.

But first, you need to measure. Measure the length and width of the hole, then measure the depth (place a shovel across the hole and measure from the horizontal shovel handle to the botom of your pit). Bring out a level and get an idea of the north-south and east-west pitch (place one end of the level on the ground, lift the other end until level, then measure how high you needed to lift that end). Say you have a 3 foot level and you lift one end 1/2 inch - the ground is essentially flat, things will go easy. But say you lift one end 6 inches - this is a big pitch, you'll need to build up the low side.

If your pit depth is greater then 18 inches, you have a safety problem. You don't want to turn your pit into a quicksand trap. You want a depth of 12 to 18 inches.

Dig out the pit bottom to be level and flat. Try to remove sharp rocks, sticks, and things that will puncture the liner. Toss in some sand to make the bottom of the pit smooth. Place the pond liner in the hole and toss some more sand on the liner to make a nice base. Toss in the long fiber sphagnum moss and fill the bog with water (rain water is best, a garden hose will do if you don't have hard water, bogs are low nutrient environments).

Find some bog plants and plant your bog. Bog plants are Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia), Sundew (Drosera), Bog Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), Tuberous Grasspink Orchid (Calopogon tuberous), and others.

Hope this helps. Have fun :-)

Tom