The Plan

We used to use refer to the damage inflicted on our plants and trees by dogs (Jake and Buddy) as “DD” for “Dog Damage”. Each season there would be a casualty or 2, usually nothing I couldn’t get over pretty quickly. Jake has this annoying habit of creating doggy dugouts- digging a Jake sized indentation into the ground to lay in, regardless of whether anything’s growing there. He has a knack for dislodging newly planted perennials. You’ll find the dessicated remains several days later and kick yourself for planting anything near one of Jake’s spots. Obstacles such as inverted flower pots and wine bottles pounded into the ground help. I know of an even better obstacle- rose clippings- but I’m not that mean.
Planted trees are usually safe around here but if they’re still in a pot, watch out! Last summer while I was rolling a wheel barrel full of mulch over to some newly planted fruit trees, Jake went ape shit and chewed a 5 foot apple tree, still in its pot and which I was about to plant, to its death.
Now we’re dealing with a different DD- deer damage. Plenty of it, and of the type that makes Jake’s DDs seem almost laughable. We’ve lost 5 trees this year due to buck rubbing and munching. And I am absolutely kicking myself for not ordering 100 more tree guards.

buck rubbed maple

deer munched pear

We are working on expanding and tidying the garden. One approach is building additional raised beds to better define what is garden and what is path. Our raised beds are primarily built from old bleacher seats attached to four corner posts. The bleachers were being used for fencing on the property. I probably wrote about this before.

Our current bed prep consists of a layer of cardboard and a whole lot of compost from the somewhat local composting facility. This bed is about 3.5′ x 14′. I also built two smaller strawberry beds to help contain the strawberries. Strawberries are one of the crops we have a hard time managing. They need to be controlled – we are hoping the beds will help us do that.