04/18/2009
Last year, I spent a lot of time and money revamping my flower gardens. A major section runs along the front of the property, from the sidewalk down a slight slope to a stone wall. It is the view out of my studio's front bay window and our dining area. The problem is this - I lived in a densley populated neighborhood along a popular route for dogwalking. Our frontage is 110 feet, plus two more 15 foot sections flanking that, that are as of yet, uncultivated. People let their dogs crap in those sections, and they don't even bother to pick it up! There is a law against that here, as in most places. I have even caught people robo-leashing their dogs beyond the garden into my yard to take a dump, and have the chutzpah to think they are going to walk away from it. I am like a cuckoo out of a clock - out the front door - "You ARE going to pick that up, right?" Yesterday, a woman ignored me completely as her extra large German Shepherd left a gigantic pile. She walked away without even pretending to be a responsible pet owner.
While I may be in a thick neighborhood, it's still a small town. I know where she lives, and I have three dogs. I will leave it at that.
Anyhoo...now my bulbs are a poppin and I've started clearing the mulch, and checking on my returning perennials. But, once again, the dogs. They love to piss on my plants. Every dog that passes, pisses on a few particular spots, in addition to pooping - both acts generally result in a final couple of kicks. This is tearing up the popping tender perennials, and driving me crazy.
So instead of giving them that power, I decided to try to find a way to solve the problem using what I could find. For absolutely no money whatsoever. Or a requiring a permit from the town.
My plan is to trim out some of the invasive species from the riverbank on the back of our property, like the grapevines that resemble giant woody anacondas, or the super flexy-twisty bittersweet, which strangles trees like a python.
And, I was given 7 various lengths of rebar that were sitting on a scrap pile left over from a construction job. I started cutting and bending that this morning. Four of the longer pieces were cut in half with a bolt cutter. I bent them into spirals using an old drop trailer as a jig. Well, I bent 7 this morning, thinking that would be enough, but I'm going to bend the other 4 tomorrow morning.
I also cut a moster grapevine that wasn't too happy with me. One end is about 5 inches in diameter....
I will post 'before' pictures after I download them from my camera. And progress pictures as I go.
I have a pile of Scarlet O'Hara morning glory seeds germinating in a paper towel as of today. I will be planting these to consume this grapevine trellis/fence. I don't care if the dogs pee on the morning glories - they can handle it. I'm starting them indoors because I have a hungry bunny in the vicinity who chomped on most of them last year. Also today I discovered that a deer munched quite a few of my tulips as well...grrrr. I'm working on that. Trying the gravy, ivory, and urine solution, all separately, of course... If anyone out there has a helpful 'keep away the deer' tip that doesn't require the use of a firearm, I'd be grateful!
