Tips for pet friendly gardens – I asked the clients what they wanted, and then reported back to the humans who were paying for it. Okay maybe not quite the scenario! But what I did do was take a realistic overview of how humans of all ages share their gardens with pets and plants.
As a pet owning gardener myself, I am keenly aware of some of the issues that many people experience. That whilst they may love their pets dearly, sometimes gardeners are less than happy at their behaviour in the garden!
Presumptions and Problems
Some of the articles you’ll find on pet friendly gardens make rather too many presumptions. For example: –
- your garden is big enough to fence off a decent sized space for a medium–large dog breed to run around in
- that you’re prepared to spend money on hiring a garden designer to re-design your garden so that it suits your canine or feline friend and then have a landscaper come in and build the design
- the garden is designed around a cat, dog or rabbit, rarely a combination of pets; although children may get a mention
- that you want your garden totally made over to suit pets not people
This stance may make good copy for a magazine but is not the viewpoint from which most of my clients start. Those with large gardens relish having a secure area for the puppy. Those with small gardens are relieved to find room for an outdoor cat litter tray.
For a large majority of pet-owning gardeners, the reality is that the garden has to accommodate many different demands from pets, plants and people. You can find pet friendly gardens and design ideas for pets in the garden in our blog links below.
But I am both a garden designer and garden consultant, and sometimes it’s the latter skills that are needed. These following tips for pet friendly gardens have evolved from problems I’ve been asked to resolve for clients.
Tips for Pet Friendly Gardens – moving to a new house and garden
Sometimes, the need to re-plan a garden is brought about not by a new pet but by a new garden as you’re moving to a new house. In all the excitement and stress of re-location, what do you need to do?
To reduce your stress, once your offer has been accepted, make arrangements to look over the garden with an eye to keeping both pets and plants safe initially. This gives you time to make necessary changes after settling in.
Garden Fences
Check all the existing boundary fences as you would do if introducing a pet into any garden. An escaping pet is not something you need. And for all their reputation for slowness, even tortoises can escape from gardens with remarkable rapidity!
See if there is a space around which you could easily erect a temporary fence to keep your puppy / dog / tortoise / rabbit secure. This gives you a breathing space to you fix any obvious issues the new garden may have.
If this isn’t possible, what other options are there? Rabbits, guinea pigs and tortoises will be fine in a temporary run on the patio for their daily constitutional. Perhaps you can fence off the patio for the dog? There are decorative fences which you fix directly into the soil. In a small garden this would be a prettier option for humans to look at than a post and chicken wire fence.
Garden Ponds
A pond with steep, straight sides is a hazard to pets and children. Even a dog who is a strong swimmer may drown if they’re not able to climb out of the pond. Temporary options include –
fixing netting across the pond surface;
laying a mesh grid just below the surface (which makes it less obvious, but still safe);
erecting a temporary or more permanent fence. A post and chicken wire fence is quick to put up and could be used to support annual climbers whilst you find a long term solution
Garden Plants
You’ll also need to check the plants so there are no nasty surprises and trips to the vet. If the current owners are gardeners, they may be able to tell you if there are any toxic plants. Indeed, you may agree that they can dig them up to take to their new garden – happiness all round! Plews offers Garden Advice Visits to help you with recognising potentially poisonous plants. See also the section below on plant names.
Edible Gardens – Humans before Pets – Tips for the Kitchen Garden
Being able to section off your productive crops has many advantages. It means pets other than cats can only gain access to the area when you allow it. If there are cats and / or wild birds around you’re still going to have to cover the seedbeds, but at least you’ll know your Alsatian puppy isn’t running riot in the runner beans!
Tree guards can be very useful around fruit trees. They help reduce damage done by cats stretching and clawing at the trunk as they accompany you into the kitchen garden. As a designer, I am fond of using step over fruit trees (also known as step over cordons) to edge paths in the fruit garden. But I have known kittens to balance on the cordon apple to play with the small growing fruit. Result: the young fruit falls off and you have a smaller harvest. Luckily, they usually mature out of this trick.
As a permutation of this, many dogs enjoy eating apples and have been known to help themselves to the riper fruit ahead of your picking it. Step over cordons, fan trained trees, espalier and single cordons are all at risk if they’re dog height. Having a well-trained dog helps reduce this damage, but even then…
My German Shepherd was trained to obedience and agility standards, accompanied me to clients’ gardens, plant nurseries, re-enactment shows, etc. What did she do? Well, we trained her out of taking the apples off the tree; yet she always helped herself to raspberries growing in my garden and allotment! But she only did this with my fruit, not other people’s, so maybe the training worked…
Tips for Pet Friendly Gardens – Raised Beds and Borders
Often cited as a means of keeping pets off the plants, raised beds and borders do have their uses. However, I would dispute that they are the only answer – as would many a Springer Spaniel owning gardener!
Where your pets are small dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and tortoises, it is worth considering raised beds in the garden. Larger dogs can be trained not to jump onto the raised beds (at least when you’re in the garden with them)
Some clients are not keen on raising all their flower borders for aesthetic reasons; it doesn’t fit with the style of the garden they want. Low fences along the border edge don’t necessarily fit the image either. What I have found to work is using plants as a barrier. This has the advantage of working with both formal gardens and informal gardens. For example, clipped box hedging in a city garden; unclipped lavender hedging in a cottage garden. These hedges can be combined with low fences (hidden behind) to keep small pets off the flower borders.
Tips for Pet Friendly Gardens – the Greenhouse
Tortoises and cats alike enjoy sunning themselves, so greenhouses are a popular snoozing place. Personally, I enjoy their company, so always encourage the addition of a cat basket and / or tortoise bed in a client’s greenhouse.
However, uncovered seed trays make a warm bed for cats – even when there are small seedlings growing in there. Laying a few twigs across the tray usually dissuades them when it’s time to remove the plastic cloche.
Regarding tortoises, make sure they can get out of the greenhouse as they could overheat on a sunny day. And of course, before you close the greenhouse door at night, check for your own and other people’s pets!
Why Botanical Latin is essential when You have Pets and a Garden
Knowing whether garden plants are toxic to your pets is obviously vital to a happy gardener and pet owner. A couple of key points –
Using the correct Botanical Latin names for plants is not about showing off to your neighbours. It’s being sure that the plants in your garden are the ones you think they are. Let’s look at a couple of examples that have come up in lessons and consultancy visits.
Plants for Pets – example 1
“Marigolds are both tasty for tortoises to eat and toxic to them.”
Confused? Try this version:
“Marigolds, Calendula spp, are tasty for tortoises to eat; but Marigolds, Tagetes spp, are toxic to them.”
Now it makes sense! both types of Marigold are sold as summer bedding plants and as companion plants for your vegetable garden.
Plants for Pets – example 2
Catnip, Catmint, Scaredy Cat – to the eye the small plants on sale can look similar. And in fact, at one level they are similar. Questions I would ask to help clarify the differences and similarities:
“What is your purpose in buying the plant? To discourage cats, drink home grown mint tea or reduce blackspot on your roses? “
Scaredy Cat is a colloquial name for Plectranthus canina, aka Coleus canina. Frequently sold as herb to deter cats from your flower borders and vegetable patch. It is a tender perennial from India so will probably not survive a wet British winter in the garden.
Catnip and Catmint are common names used for Nepeta species. Nepeta cataria is the plant used for commercial catnip. Others, such as Nepeta x faassenii ‘Six hills giant’, help reduce blackspot when planted under standard rose bushes in organic gardens
And for growing mint in your herb garden to drink as a tisane? Well, the above are members of the Lamiaceae family, but if you want to grow your own mint tea, Moroccan mint, is the best. That is, Mentha spicata var crispa ‘Moroccan’ to be precise! Then you can sit and sip whilst your pets play safely and securely in your garden.
and finally…
I hope you’ve found these tips for pet friendly gardens helpful and perhaps thought-provoking. Do contact us for personal help to make your garden a relaxing place for you, your family and your pets, in National Pet Month this April and year-round.
Why not ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden? You could learn how to grow an orchard of citrus fruits in your conservatory. We can help with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, carry out worm and other experiments and for example, also show you how to plan a vegetable plot. Have a read through this pdf download for info.
And if you prefer company, there are small group Gardening Workshops to come to. Plus get your local garden club, allotment, WI, U3A or other group to ask me along to give a talk (and bring plants 😉)
For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below Plus we have a monthly Tipsheet (currently changing our provider, so there may be a delay) You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.
Feeling nosey? You can have a peek at the progress of my garden renovation, Spitfires and Slow Worms, on Instagram and Facebook
You’ll get to see it in person if you come to the Plews Gardening Workshops Although later dates and topics still need to be finalised, there are current ones on Eventbrite for you to book into. Follow for updates on topics and dates on Instagram, Eventbrite, Facebook
Related Gardening articles from the award winning Plews Potting Shed
Dog Friendly Gardens
Cat Friendly Gardens
How to Puppy Proof Your Garden
How to Kitten Proof Your Garden
Pets in the Garden – Questions & Answers (one of the older blogs in Plews Potting Shed but still valid!)
