I was going to start this by saying that I started a new project today, but actually it started months ago. I was talking at our breed club AGM with a friend and we started talking about gardening. She has a large garden and wants to turn it into a garden. If that sounds stupid, bear with me.
She has a large amount of land outside the house. It is currently mostly laid to grass with a few plants around the border and a couple of trees – it is the typical blank canvas. Whilst she is at ease with vegetables and fruit (her polytunnels are outside the garden area), gardens are a little more of a challenge to her, particularly taking into account the needs of the dogs and family.
The next stage in the journey was that she asked me to write an article for the club newsletter. The thing that most resonated with her about this was the idea that not only were there the human routes through the garden, but that the dogs too had their own routes that had to be considered.
A few months have passed by and she recently contacted me for help in the next phase of the project. She wanted some help in turning the garden into a garden. I am not a professional gardener but I was intrigued by the prospect of working with her on this.
It will be a very unconventional situation. Despite the fact that we meet at canine events, we live many miles from each other, so photos, email and phone conversations will be the methods of communication. I won’t be giving her a design to work to, but what we will do is discuss her issues and I’ll make some suggestions to help her on the way. It will be totally her garden, I will just ask the questions to help her make the decisions that are right for her.
With Debbie’s agreement, I will document the process in this blog. Hopefully it will provide some ideas to others.
Gardening and dogs 