article: Pets and your Pond Plants

Pets and your Pond Plants

Pets are a part of your life, just as pets are a very important portion of your life. If you are living with pets in and around your garden, in this article I am going to tell you a bit about how to protect your pet, and your garden from your pets at the same time!

Cats and dogs love to explore, and this is going to include your gardens. From the first day that you build a new garden, or when you bring your pet home, you will want to train your pet to keep from digging, scratching, eating and from peeing in your garden. While this may be easier said than done, you can constantly tell your pet no from the start, and then give them a quick squirt of water to prevent them from wanting to go in your garden again.

To keep pets from entering your gardens, there are ‘special’ plants that will keep them from wanting to be in your garden, just as there are some plants that will attract pets. For example, using plants that have thorns or that are taller than the pet, your pet is not going to be attracted to the garden. Catnip, and marigolds seem to attract more pets than not.

If you have cats, one plant that is going to attract your cat to a certain area of the garden is thyme. Thyme gives cats something to look forward to, and often they will enjoy sleeping on it, playing in it, and thyme is going to make your little kitty smell great too. Planting thyme in one area of your garden or along side a garden where you don’t mind if your cat plays, is going to prevent your cat from entering other gardens or portions of your gardens that you are more protective about.

Perhaps you have a pet that is a little different than most, always attracted to your gardens no matter what you do. One option that you have is a fence of some type, and another is that you might want to create a garden that this pet can play and roam in while concentrating on another garden elsewhere in your landscape. If you have a pet that is a ‘little different’ such as a snake, a chicken or a rabbit, you might want to consider what they are really looking for in your garden, such as bugs, food, and plants that they eat.

If you have plants that are prone to being trampled on by your pets, consider using trellis’s and cages to protect these plants. Once your cat or dog finds that this is not a pathway that they can knock out your plants and continue walking they will find another pathway that is a bit easier for them to access all the time and your plants are a bit more protected than before.