My Chicken Coop’s Carnivorous Bog Garden

In early October I created a carnivorous bog garden outside my chicken coop. It’s a sunny spot that I’ve done little with in the past. Plus, we were having problems with flies because of the proximity to the chicken coop. I didn’t know much about carnivorous plants and frankly didn’t think they’d survive outside in our zone 8a garden. Once I knew more about carnivorous bogs, it was a no-brainer. I needed to have one.

Three things happened this past year that convinced me I needed a carnivorous bog garden:

1. I visited the new Master Gardener carnivorous bog demo garden at McCollum Park
2. When volunteering at the fair, our Master Gardener booth was next to the bog garden display
3. I learned all about carnivorous bog gardens during one of my perennial study group meetings

I do recommend talking to someone in your area that knows about setting up a bog garden. When I visited Odean’s Nursery in Snohomish, she gave me handouts on creating a bog garden and walked me through the process. It was a huge help. I can’t wait to see my new pitcher plants gobble up all the flies this summer. Here’s how I created my bog garden:

To start, I dug a big hole. Filled the bottom with sand and added a plastic pond liner. I also provided a water runoff to keep the plants from drowning.

I added a plastic tub to act as a water reservoir and collect rain water from the rain chain/gutter. I then filled the "pond" with peat moss and perlite.

Next I watered the bog using water from our rain barrel and planted my carnivorous plants from Oudeens nursery.

I also added larger stones to hold down the plastic and smaller drain rock to cover any remaining plastic.

Adding the carnivorous bog helps our garden be more sustainable. The coop and bog garden work together.

To keep the chickens from falling in the reservoir and add a bit of whimsy, I added glass pond floats. So far the chickens are leaving the new garden alone. .