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Dog Friendly Gardening
You love your garden. You love your dog(s). What is an enthusiastic gardener to do about those extra paws in the garden? There are two questions I keep in mind when planning and finally planting flowers or vegetation:
1) Where is the dog usually walking/running?
2) How can I keep these plants from being destroyed?
When I started my garden, I decided I wanted to have an "interactive garden" after reading about gardens that utilize all the senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste. The already existing plants in the area I wanted to start my garden gave way to the perfect walking path, not just for me, but my dog Newton also.
Having an available path did not guarantee that it would be the only way Newton would be coming through or around the garden area. There two or three other locations that he liked to run through: in between a tree and a palm plant, through a break in a tall natural-wall like plant, and he also like to shimmy between another shrub and a tree. I decided I did not want him running through the nice natural-wall plant in the garden, so I went to Lowe's and picked up two separate pieces of a wrought iron fence. It worked out quite well as the fence sections are very sturdy and do prevent him from possibly hurting himself and doing damage to that particular plant.
I left the other areas open and available to him because if I did not he would ruin my snap dragons by jumping over them, and landing in them over and over again. He still does jump in them periodically, but it is not as bad as it could be. Planting the snap dragons in an area easily accessible for jumping was not the best strategic location for them, but they seem to be quite robust and are still alive even after being routinely disturbed by 33 lbs of Newton.
The next phase of my garden will be to add a seating area so I can enjoy the much cooler temperature in my garden-oasis.
I would like to add a green-roofed-dog-veranda for Newton either somewhere in the garden or at one of the path ends. You can find the instructions for the doggie veranda at Instructables.com: Click here.
The plants I want to plant on the roof will most likely be herbs, as they are very delicate and I can readily put some kind of cover on them so Newton can not eat them; just in case some them may be poisonous to pets.
Check back for photos from our garden!
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