Hoping to create a Bog Garden/Wetland Habitat

[Lance-allott]

I would love to have a wildlife pond on my plot but unfortunately we are not allowed ponds due to heath and safety regs. We are allowed to have wetland habitats however and I would particularly like to attract dragonflies to my site. We already have slow worms and frogs as well as lots of butterflies.

My question is what sort of habitat should I be trying to create (for amphibians and dragonflies), and how much land do I need to sacrifice to make the habitat viable. I haven't a clue about planting. I have a young family and can't afford to spend all my time tending the wetland habitat to the detriment of my veg so I am hoping to put the pond liner over a particularly bindweed infested part of the allottment and kill two birds with one stone.

I have seen lots of bog garden sites on the net but they seem to be more  about growing unusual carnivourous plants like Venus Flytraps or rare bulbs whereas I would just like to attract the dragonflies...

[Lance-allott]

[cambourne7]

you could be sneeky and put a planting tray into a raised bed to collect the water and then plant around it.

[Svengali]

I think that trying to attract dragon / damselflies to a bog garden is a bit of a non-starter. The larval stages need plenty of water space, and a reasonable depth.
One thing that you should be wary of is putting too many holes through the sunken liner - take it one fork at a time until you find the optimum drainage. I made the mistake of making too many perforations, and the water drains so quickly, it hardly qualifies as a bog garden.
JeremyB

[cambourne7]

other suggestion is that you build a raised bed with a base and build it in that?