Let's talk gardens.....

FAJ · Enlightened One

Let's talk gardens.....

bluesmumanddad · Master

We did have a go at growing our own veggie until we got Blue. He likes to poo on the Parsnips and no one fancies eating them now - strange that

We have gravel in our drive and Blue doesn't like it. Think it hurts his feet to walk on.

So the plan this summer is to make a raised veggie patch surrounded by railway sleepers to try and deture Blue, a paved seating area and a small bubble fountain - if it ever stops raining!

sha · Master

Hi

In January we decided to "hard landscape" the garden. Our dogs are bitches so we had a polka dot lawn! 2 of our dogs dug holes so big they could sit in them. It was hard work to keep it looking nice. It is now totally paved with some slate chips. It`s fab - the dogs wee etc in the chips, it`s really easy to pick up mess. It is soooo clean, i hose it regularly and it does not smell in the slightest. It`s money well spent. We do not have a blade of grass, the most gardening i do now, is to brush the slabs. No more muddy paw marks!

Sha

The guy that did our garden is bril!! William McCombe www.design-my-garden.co.uk. He is very hard working and very trustworthy.

-- Edited by sha at 09:42, 2005-03-30

-- Edited by sha at 09:46, 2005-03-30

FAJ · Enlightened One

Sha - sounds good do you have any piccies you could post? Also, if you don't mind me asking, how much did it set you back? Feel free to pm that info, if you don't want to broadcast it. Or feel free to tell me to mind my own business!!

Fiona

(Edited to nosey about costs)

-- Edited by FAJ at 10:00, 2005-03-30

sha · Master

Hi Fiona,

It`s ok i don`t think you are being nosy. I will try to post photo`s but having probs with comp. It cost just over £3000 but that included 3 x builders skips, materials, machinery hire and Williams very hard work. It was a fair price for the size of garden. We are very pleased with the result.

Sha

Tried to mail pic, failed - i`m no comp wizz! if you`re ever in the area come and see.

-- Edited by sha at 10:36, 2005-03-30

Janice · Old Hand

Spooky or what!! Was just having a conversation in work before I came home about gardens and what dogs can do to them. One of my colleagues has just sent away for a sample of artificial lawn for her garden. Suppose to be ideal for dogs all you do is hose it down. You can check out the website at www. evergreensuk.com. Will be interesting to see, sounds like my kind of grass! During the last snow fall Mandy took a maddie round and round the garden and churned up most of it and brought the rest in on her feet!!

Janice

greyflintstone · Master

Wow! That artificial stuff looks really good! I notice, though, that the website doesn't have any prices!! How convenient!! If, when your colleague, receives the sample she mentions the price will you post back here and let us know?!

Ta!

greyluvver · GAL Membership Co-Ordinator

Yes, we can relate to the churned up grass and mud. As this has been our first winter with dogs, we are hoping to plant grass seed and just hope it will come up nice and grassy for the summer again. We were advised to put holes into the grass and put sand into it to help soak up the moisture.

I also had thought about stone chips and keeping a wee bit of grass but as Tyler loves to run wild circuits round the garden, I thought chips would be painful! Will check out the artificial grass though.

Re: yellow stains in the grass I saw a spray to help this from Pets at Home store. Might give it a try if we have any grass left for the summer months!!

Janice · Old Hand

I think the price was roughly £14 per square metre, could be pricey if you have a huge garden but hey no mowing and no yellow or bald patches, money well spent I'd say!

Steve · Master

We tried the grass seed planting - no chance! Anything that wasn't firm was turfed up soon with a mad five mins around the garden.

We looked into artificial lawns but were told by a few folk that they can be hard to get prperly clean and are expensive.

The most popular was some form of paving.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Greyluvver - if you do try planting grass seed, get yourself some horticultural fleece. It greatly speeds up the growth of the grass. It's porous, so you can water through it, and it lets the light through.

And the real bonus is that pointies like to piddle on it!!!

Fiona

Chas · Old Hand

We have quite a small garden which is a mixture of grass, paving and a "garden" bit which has hardy plants and some pots. The ground is covered in bark which makes it really easy for clearing up. We have also managed to "train" (is that the right word for Greys?) not to wee on the grass in our garden and other than the very odd ocassion this has been successful. At my in-laws they have soooo much grass we can't stop the dogs weeing on it, but it never seems to show any burn marks at all!

Chas

PS Don't be fooled that it's only bitches that kill your grass!! The way some dogs wee (ie the amount at one time!!) they can do a very good job as well!

Jay · Old Hand

We have moved into our new house last year and are hoping to get round to the garden later this year.

I read somewhere that the artificial grass is very good and not ridiculously expensive if your not covering a huge area - £13 per Sq m I think... Seems its good thought as you can wash it with a hose and it now looks like real grass.

We had gravel in our old garden but the hounds, especially Lita, didn't like it at all and wouldn't go onto it at all (except to chase cats - then she limped back off...)

greyluvver · GAL Membership Co-Ordinator

Fiona, thanks for tip on horticultural fleece for grass growing. The wood bark may be an idea as mentioned by Chas.

If the artificial grass is anything like Astroturf used on football pitches, John tells me it can be quite sore if you slip on it (friction burns)!!

FAJ · Enlightened One

Just a wee thing about bark - make sure it doesn't have any cocoa mulch in it, cos that can be poisonous to dogs. Apparently it contains theobromines (sp?), same as chocolate.

Fiona