Creating a Natural Marsh Garden
If you do not have a naturally damp area in your garden then do not worry, there are many ways to make a natural looking Marsh Garden.
One of the easiest ways is to use the overflow from your garden pond, where the water flows out of the pond you should dig out the soil until the hole is a minimum of 18"/45cm's deep, then line this hole with some left over liner or polythene. DO NOT PUT HOLES INTO THE LINER. The liner is there to maintain water, not to let the water escape.
Then fill up your hole, firstly place some well rotted cow manure or garden compost into the hole then complete filling with a mixture of ordinary garden top soil, peat and sharp sand. This will make the soil easy for the plant roots to key into.
If the overflow of your pond is only slow then fill the hole with water from the hose, once it is full you will find that the overflow from the pond will keep it very damp. Then you can plant your marsh plants straight into the soil making a naturalized edge to the pond.
If you do not have a pond or your pond is formal and you do not wish to have a marsh garden right next to the pond then this is another way of creating that natural look.
Again dig a hole about 18"/45cm deep into the ground where you wish to place your marsh garden. Line the hole with plastic or pond liner but do not put holes in the liner for drainage. Marsh plants need water and not drainage. Then fill up the hole with well rotted manure or compost and soil as before. Place the hose into the area and fill completely with water. Once this is done you should only have to top up occasionally even through the hottest of summers.
Also if you have a formal pond i.e. a rectangular or square pond with no marginal shelves or you have a pond with marginal shelves and do not want all the pots standing around another way of creating that natural look is as follows:-
Decide on which area of the pond that you wish to have the marginal/marsh area, then obtain some ordinary house bricks. If you have a liner then you should place another piece of liner in the bottom of the pond where the marginal/marsh area is going to be. Then place bricks in the pond on the extra liner or immediately on the base of a concrete pond and build yourself a dry brick wall i.e. with no mortar between the bricks. The wall should finish up around 2"/5cm below the water level.
Once this is done place an old nylon shirt or sheet between the bricks and the edge of the pond in effect lining the area you have made. Then fill this area with soil bringing it up to the top of the bricks. This will still be 2"/5cm below the water level, then gently add more soil graduating it up so that the soil emerges out of the water near the pond edge and eventually coming up to the top of the pond edge. Then plant your plants and place well washed small shingle over the soil. This will make a natural shore area for all your pond inhabitants.
