If you have pets and a garden, you know sometimes they don’t always go together. But if you understand your animals natural desires, you can avoid clashes. One of my Great Danes (I had three for many years) was allergic to grass – couldn’t lay on it, so subsequently she loved dirt. If there was dirt, she was in it, digging a nest and snuggling down. And this is a Great Dane we’re talking about – it was always a king-sized nest. Luckily, my wonderful rescues seemed to come pre-trained, because a knee high fence (or as we called it, ‘a suggestion of a fence’) kept them out of both my vegetable garden and my flower garden. I let her have the compost pile – she’d dig in it and I’d have compost in half the time. The other compromise was that I moved my flower garden to one large plot instead of lots of little plots around the yard. That worked out well, too, it was much easier to maintain that one plot than the multiple plots had been.
I also had ducks. They started out as natural pest control and companions for my Great Dane, who seemed bored and lonely. That issued resolved when I adopted Great Dane brothers – it’s a long story, I’ll tell you someday. Ducks love snails and slugs and bugs. Unfortunately they also love lettuce, parsley and cilantro. They really love cilantro. I didn’t mind losing a bit of my garden to them, but just one could strip a garden in minutes. Once I realized how much they loved cilantro, I planted a plot of it far from the vegetable garden and they seemed content to munch on that and leave most of my garden alone.
My cats are generally indoor cats, but when I’m home and can keep an eye out, I leave the door open and they love to wander. I planted catmint (a variation of catnip) for them in the flower garden to roll around in and soon realized two things – it attracted every cat in neighborhood and spread like crazy. Now their catnip is in a pretty pot (thanks Aunt Lari) and I cut it for them and let them roll around in the cuttings.
I also plant oat grass for them. I keep several pots going, planted about a week apart. This gives them something to eat and unlike Kentucky blue grass, they don’t immediately throw it up on my carpet.
My Danes loved clover, I don’t know if other dogs are as fond of it as mine were, but I finally tore up the grass in their dog run (okay, their run was actually a third of my yard) and planted clover. Clover takes some work to get started, but once it’s started it’s hearty, stands up to pet waste (and Great Dane feet) and spreads easily. It’s also a great source of nitrogen for your grass. I’m glad I planted it, because by the time the yard was established my dogs were geriatric and enjoyed laying in the clover all day. And it kept my girl from digging big holes – clover was almost as good as dirt.
I’d rather garden with pets around to occasionally mess things up (one of the Danes ate my Flowering Almond Tree – pulled it right out of the ground and gnawed it like a big bone), than have a perfect garden without pets. It’s a matter of balance. Keep that in mind if your dog digs up your favorite flower or your cat suddenly decides your herb container is the perfect place to sleep on a hot afternoon. Or when your child thinks that every vegetable garden should have grasshoppers, so she proceeds to go out and collect all the grasshoppers she can find and drops them in your garden. (You can ask my dad about that one).
I’ll see what’s fresh in the store this week and post an appropriate recipe. Until then….
