Dog Friendly Gardens
I hope this might help some of you. |
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| I would love to get this book - thanks for the info!
In 1999 and 2000 I won the Gold Medal for gardening for my city, and placed third in Canada for environmental gardening. Trust me if I can do it...anyone can! I visited the library for aprox a year beforehand and wrote notes and planted to attract birds, butterflies and bees. If you plant food sources for them...they will come! I live in the heart of Suburbia but am fortunate to have huge 100 ft tall trees at the back of my property for nesting birds. I also researched and planted shrubs that provided a food source for birds with seed heads or berries. When the judges came to view my home they were smiling that I was able to keep this garden along with two dogs, Shaggy and Blue plus pet rabbit that roamed freely in the yard with the two dogs on a daily basis. The trick was if you plant thickly ...leaves no room for weeds to poke up and the dogs don't walk in the planted area. No pesticides - ever! Every weed is hand picked (but as stated if you plant thickly enough there's not much room for weeds to grow anyhow.) Avoid foxgloves..digitalis in latin..which is heart medication but it's been my experience that dogs don't chew on this plant anyhow..but better to be safe. All my fences are solid except for one which is a "good neighbor fence". To prevent Stu, (my pet bunny at that time) from leaving my yard - I placed wire along the length of the fence (the smaller stuff and not chicken wire) and planted climbing plants to hide the wire. Honey suckle smells heavenly and attracts humming birds. Buddlia's - Butterfly Bush attracks butterflies like crazy and the bush resembles lilacs and has a baby powder smell. Anyhow I'm rambling but you got me started on gardening...I love gardening! Jil (Bentley and Kira's mom) is a fantastic gardener too. She posted photos of her gorgous flowers once time on the forum. If you plant an "environmentally friendly" garden you don't have to worry about your pets and the point of these gardens is they don't have to be estestically pretty but are more natural. You don't fight nature and plant foreign flowers but those which are local to your area and thus allowing them to grow more easily and providing food for the local bird population or bugs. You want lady beetles to visit your garden! They eat up to 2,000 aphids a day! No need for spraying at all if you attract the "good bugs", that eat the "bad bugs". I should mention that bad bugs make up only 2% of the bug population although most people label all bugs are yucky! I highly recommend looking up "naturescape" on the net - fantastic resource for anyone interested in pursuing planting to attract all kinds of birds and butterflies in their yards. Happy Gardening everyone! Marianne and the boys |
I need to read this, too!  |
| Is the info in the book on plants that are non toxic as well as bitter...mine taste before anything else. If I can plant bitter yet non toxic that's what I'd plant...as long as they avoid ripping them all out.
What about digging up in the flower bed....I can never buy enough plants to plant thickly, and putting dog poo in the flower bed is NOT detering Ziva. Remy would dig once in awhile, and not bother my plants. But Ziva every chance she gets she is digging somewhere....for the fun of it. It's winter too, but the ground in the flower bed is open and not frozen. I can't waste anymore money on plants if I can't prevent her from digging. Does chicken wire buried under the dirt really work, or do they just dig that up and move it to the side? |
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