its a dogs life
Iweedthebed
Posts: 2
Hi I’m looking for some advice for my garden. I am very new to gardening having only last year taken much interest in anything more than mowing the lawn. I have split my garden in 2 with half for the kids to play in with usual play equipment and a fairy garden and veg patch, this bit was concentrated on last year and went well. This year I would like to get the other half developing nicely which is mainly for me, the wife and the dog. The dog is my biggest issue it’s a Siberian Huskey who likes to dig, I’m not fussed about my lawn, but I have a raised bed down one side and its what to put in here that I’m looking for advice with. I would like it to be bird friendly as well but I’m aware that some plants that attract birds also produce berries that are harmful to dogs so I’m looking for the bushy shrub types that are dog safe and allow shelter for birds to platform In before moving to my feeder (which is looking very underused at present). So basically some plants that are or can get big enough the dog cant remove them, safe in case he tries to eat them and bird friendly.
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First suggestion is you make a sand pit and bury a few treats in it to encourage your dog to dig where you want him to and not elsewhere. If you have cats about though they may see it as a lovely big litter tray so take that advice with some caution.
The main things to avoid are cocoa bark as a mulch and plants with poisonous berries that he could get stuck to his paws and lick off. I've never had trouble with the dog eating plants generally (except with them picking raspberries and strawberries
). Bulbs and berries are the biggest issue, as you say, but not all berries are poisonous. Birds love hawthorn, rowan and elder - all produce berries but none would be a problem for your dog unless he has very specific allergies or some such. The other thing to be aware of is eating slugs and snails can be very dangerous for dogs (heartworm) so you might want to avoid hostas, for example, which tend to attract them. I have trouble with my dogs and geraniums, especially rozanne, because they attract lots of bees, which one of my dogs tries to eat (stoopid dogbot - I have told him, he won't listen).
Birds love seeds as well as berries though - so sunflowers and grasses are great for them and no real concern for the dog. If there's some sun on the bed, then verbena bonariensis is a lovely bird friendly plant - too spindly for anything but the smaller birds to feed on and tall enough for them to be out of bird reach. Winter flowering honeysuckle is popular here as cover for some of the bigger birds and the wrens - it's a sprawly shrub that gives ground cover as well as bird safe hideaways. Philadelphus - lovely summer fragrance - roses, lilac, juniper, all should be fine and grow fast and sturdy. Ground cover maybe alchemilla, stachys, ajuga (can be a bit bee-busy).
I wouldn't overthink it. Most plants are fine for most dogs - you need to protect the baby plants until their roots are established whatever you plant, with chicken wire perhaps, to make digging awkward. That will work better if he has somewhere more fun to dog instead.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Here's the Dogs Trust list. The main ones to avoid are the 'can be fatal' ones, really, unless your dog spends a lot of time in the garden unsupervised chewing sticks.
https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/factsheets-downloads/factsheetpoisonoussubstances09.pdf
Last edited: 15 January 2018 12:19:57
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Thank you for your advice, there are some lovely looking plants in there that I will take a more detailed look at.
I have a dividing fence with a trellis on top that I plan to trail a honeysuckle at one end and a passion flower the other. I also like the idea of a little rowan tree somewhere and a lilac if I can. I was looking at laurels but from that list you linked to I think I may pass now, thank you for the list I wasn’t aware that it existed but it will help form the basis of what I don’t do in the dog garden now.
We did sunflowers last year and they were a huge success with the kids watching them grow, we also did some veg (pumpkins grow much larger as plants than we realised). Making the garden Bee friendly is also something I would very much like to do.
I would love to try the sand pit idea, but I do have a couple of cats as well and they may well take up the opportunity provided which then would result in my dog flinging it around the garden or worse. The chicken wire idea is brilliant, and I can use that to protect my raised bed. Aesthetically it wont look very good to begin with but it will allow the plants to establish before the dog takes an interest. He took an interest in my poor little herb garden and the rosemary got relocated but the parsley was fine where it was apparently and the less said about the basil the better.
Thank you again much appreciated
A couple of other tips, born of sad experience - knee pads rather than kneeler mats. The latter are apparently wonderful fun to shred if left unattended for a nano-second.
You'll often see 'blood fish and bone' recommended as a slow release food for newly planted shrubs - don't. It definitely attracts digging dogs. I use seaweed extract pellets instead - much less interesting smell, it seems.
An empty plant pot is a toy that will last a short while and from a gardener's point of view is far better than a plant pot that still has it's baby plant contents in it, although the dog seems not to distinguish between the two.
Herb gardens only work with a fence round them - mine is inside the veg plot which is thoroughly fenced so dogs are only ever in there under very close supervision.
Last edited: 15 January 2018 15:07:53
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”