Monthly Tip-off: Keep your paws green and out of the garden
In addition to our Tips and Tricks series, this months write up lists a set of tips, suggestions, and tricks for making you and your pup seasoned gardeners this Spring. We know you’re ready for May flowers, too!!
This is the time to prepare your yard for growing season; the weather is getting warmer and the days are lasting longer, which means you should be spending more time outside, and when inside preparing nutritious meals for all your friends using the fresh vegetables picked from your yard. This month, we’re gathering some of our favorite tips figured out by the people who have had their yards dug up, chewed up, and peed on by their furry children. Gardens to dogs must be what McDonalds is to us, fast food with an attached indoor playground. Speaking of food, this would be an opportune time to mention that we’re currently working on a new flavor that features an ingredient that cuts out grazing and grass eating among other things – stay tuned… Now scroll on!
- Dogs aren’t keen on spicy stuff: Mix equal amounts of powdered mustard with crushed dried peppers and douse the mixture all over your garden bed! They’ll wish they never sniffed your garden in the first place, and will be barking for a glass of milk!
- Diluting spots your dog frequently visits to go number 1 with a hose will minimize the effect of grass burns from dog urine. Taking an inch of compost onto the area will also help balance the pH of the soil.
- Dogs aren’t coffee connoisseurs: Meaning they don’t like bitter stuff. By laying used coffee grinds around your seedlings, dogs will be less tempted. As a value-add, coffee grinds doubles as an excellent fertilizer from your garden. Go resourcing!
- If your dog’s running routine is wearing multiple unwanted paths in your yard, focus on making one specific path their favorite. Decorate it with ornamental fencing or raised beds. Use soft materials to line the pathway. Such as, pine needles or leaves.
- If your dog has been tearing up your yard, only punish them when caught in the act. Use positive training methods that show your dog how to act properly in the yard. Don’t just leave your pup outside unattended. Play with your dog outside and show him a safe place to get wild and crazy at!
- Surround newly planted trees by a protective wire enclosure for the first few years.
- Monkey See, Monkey Do: If you let your dog watch you while you’re weeding or planting, you might be planting little bad behavior seeds in their minds, too.
- Spiky Barriers: Dogs do not enjoy being poked and will learn fast not do something if a sharp poke is the result. Surround your flowerbeds with the twigs you’ve obtained from pruning your rose bushes or layout pinecones on top of exposed soil. As an added bonus, pine cones keeps out cats and snails, too!
As we’re approaching the new growing season, always resort to the least invasive and most natural solution to keeping those snouts and claws away from your precious seedlings. At the end of the day, remember in your dog’s eyes your garden is like a McDonalds. You wouldn’t get mad at your child for having a good time at the indoor playground, would you?
