WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD OCT. 28, 2016

freerepublic | Oct 28, 2016 | greeneyes

[Wneighbor]

I like my driveway as a space for the containers also because I think it adds aesthetically to our entrance. I’ve been in a 10 year phase of convincing my husband of the beauty of this. Long before me he had a wife and home in suburbia. She gardened by putting out multiple flats of seasonal annuals around their landscaper-prepared beds. He left suburbia for the country but maintained some of that mentality. He feels vegetable plants belong out back, unseen by guests. Heck, like all of you, I think, I want to show mine off. We’ve gone back and forth with this idea of landscaping and it’s been a challenge. He was unfamiliar with perenials, herbs for cooking, medicine and just fragrance. But I think finally he just went along this year as I put in the first dozen tomatoes and peppers along the driveway while he was at work one day. He could see how easily accessible it all was for me and kept any negative thoughts to himself as he’s known how I’ve struggled to try and garden out back.

I know it bothers him but I’m getting him used to my kind of gardening. He now likes my fresh herbs in salads and cooking and sees the value of growing our medicinal things. He just hasn’t yet seen the beauty of blooming squash mixed in a bed of pretties. LOL

[Wneighbor]

I am in full agreement and sympathy with y’all about the neighborhood dogs! We are not in any city limits so there are no containment laws for dogs, however it is completely legal to shoot one on your property or one that attacks. That really leaves us with much the same problem you describe many times. They run off our property when they see us so we can’t legally shoot. Yesterday hubby did fire two shotgun blasts into the dirt after 2 large dogs bothering ours. We have a fenced yard for our dogs. Apparently they like us well enough because they stay in. We dont even know who most of the strays belong to. Yesterday after shooting hubby stayed outside hoping someone living nearby would come complain so he could have a talk. No one showed up so we don’t know which people to blame.

Two weekends ago somebody’s stray jumped into our dog’s yard to fight. When I went out to check the stray jumped the fence and ran but our male had a 6” piece of skin torn loose. We are out $500+ in vet bills for surgery and drugs. Stitches just got removed this morning and Barlo is fine but this needn’t have happened to him when he and Lydia are in their own space:(

I know I hit the dog that attacked me at the clothesline last spring. Hubby called the county sheriff to notify them in case of complaint. I was knocked down and required medical attention for the fall but not because of dog bites or scratches as I had my gun out and shot as the dog leaped, just got knocked down and he ran away. We knew which neighbor owned that dog. We’ve had trouble with them since they moved in. The man works for an ambulance service in another county so when hubby caught him at home it was 2 or 3 days later. They had built the dog a small enlosure (a large pit looking dog, small enclosure like 6X8) and they’d had to take “the poor thing” to the vet to remove birdshot but of course could not believe the dog crossed out of the yard onto our property. That thing is still one that roams the neighborhood. I get so angry. Of course hubby was fit to be tied over it all and is still angry everytime he catches sight of those neighbors.

Like y’all I can’t let my grandkids play out in the yard without me being right there with them, ARMED! And there are not just strays out here, people dump dogs and we get feral populations cross breeding with the coyotes. Usually those don’t come up into this area where we have homes but its mixed with ranches, weekend lake homes for city people and homes. Less than half the homes in the area are permanently occupied so between Corp of Engineer property around the lake, ranch land and the weekend-only homes there’s a lot of room for the ferals to den up. They scare me for rabies etc.

[greeneyes]

Our gardens are mostly out back, but that’s because of the soil more than anything. The front yard kills almost everything we plant. I also get lazy and not keep the bucket’s area as neat as I like the front patio and driveway.

We currently have a big bed of Iris and Lilies lining one side of the driveway. Hubby put them there out of the back yard flower garden along the upper back patio. He then put blueberries in that space.

When we talked about it, I was OK with it. However, I think now that the blueberries would have looked nicer along the driveway than the flowers, which are tall and scraggly after they bloom.