You can see below the hole is almost completely filled. It would take eighteen bags of sphagnum peat moss to do so. You can also where I've started to cut the excess liner away. It was much easier than I expected. I also cut some slits in the liner to allow excess water to drain. We live in a wet area and don't want the bog to be a pond.
Look closely and you'll see I had an audience. Turkeys! They had no qualms about me being there as long as I was busy either shoveling dirt out of the hole, or peat moss in. But if I went to get tools or slate they hustled into the front yard. Only to return when I went back to work (they really like sunflower seeds).
A couple of trips to the hardware store to get the proper PVC pieces (with an extra trip when I bought the wrong size! D'oh!) and the line form the rain barrel is sloping into the bog.
And then buried (well most of it anyway).
While it is a wet area it can get dry during the hot summer months. The rain barrel will provide a reservoir ensuring the bog is always sufficiently hydrated.
Here is the finished product. The slate slabs user to line the edge of the bog, covering and holding down the liner, were piled up in the back of our yard, no doubt left over from the construction of our two ponds (by the prior owners). Most of the plants are Sarracenia purpurea, our native pitcher plant, that I purchased at the native plant sale at this years Whitesbog Blueberry Festival. There are also a couple of Drosera species, sundews. The pitcher plants and sundews are carnivores. We've since added a few more plants, including a small cranberry bush. Inside the slate is the brown sphagnum moss, outside is black compost, another layer of our lasagna garden (you can see some of the cardboard poking through at the lower right). The whole garden area will be covered with leaf mulch for the winter. Come spring we'll begin planting again.
I'll need to find something new to fill my weekends 'til then.
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