Suggestions to keep your Doodle out of the garden beds

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I used to have a beautiful pondless waterfull and planting bed around it. I placed every single black rock (forget what they are called) exactly where I wanted it. Samantha would never go near it. That is until Charli!!

 

That little black, loveable rat just loves to run through it kicking up every rock I so lovingly placed so the water would sound like the Philhormanic. Again - BC (before Charli). At first I got so mad at her for ruining what took me hours to do - but then I saw the humor in it all. Now, the sound be damned. I just love her silliness and the look on my face when she realizes what she just did - how can you stay mad?

I have, or should I say had, beautfiul perinnials - sedums, dead nettle and a few others in the bed around the pond. They may have been deer resistent but not Charli resistent. She doesn't eat them, she runs threw them, sits on them or just grabs a piece of plant and dodges away knowing I will holler at her.

My goal this spring to teach her to stay off my pond beds! Any suggestions on how I might accomplish that? The deer hate cyote urine but will Charli?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Sounds like a lovely, low maintenance garden. One of my goal over the years has been to decrease garden maintenance and I'm getting there. I have lots of perennials and ground cover. I like the natural look so I have no edging of grass and I tolerate a fair number of weeds. As things mature they crowd out the plant "thugs". The group logo is from my garden.