Gardening And Landscaping Ideas - Doggy

[Brandiandwe]

We moved into our place nearly 12 months ago and I think it's time to think about the lawn and some landscaping. We have about 20 m square of 'lawn' out the back, but part is under a large pine tree and is struggling to grow any grass. We have a nice boggy patch from run off from our neighbour's place up the hill, and Brandi has a running track which is making the rest of the grass pretty bare.

What I would like to do is cover the entire area in dog friendly mulch/ ground cover, with some native grasses (the ones in clumps), ferns, a sun dial and other odds and ends. But I'm a bit stumped as to which ground cover - bark chips? Pea gravel? I want something that won't hurt the dogs (who will still have some lawn, though they mostly enjoy lying on their beds on the concrete - grass is prickly), that is going to drain urine away and not smell and look attractive.

Ideas?

[Nushie]

We use untreated bark chips. Jager has a habit of chewing and eating them (and other sticks etc he can find in the yard) so wanted to be safe with untreated. We have to replace it every 6-12 months as it starts to breakdown, but that makes good mulch for the plants and we just scatter fresh chips on top.

Our yard is pretty small, only about 8x8m and it doesn't smell, even in the middle of summer with 2 weeks of hot days, but he is a pug so not very big. I cant help with the plants as they were there when we moved in. But they are clumping grass type plants, maybe growing to a max of about 40cm high. One section was really tightly planted and Jager ended up trampling a lot of it finding places to toilet. So we thinned it out and it looks a lot neater and he just weaves his way between them now.

The last place we rented had small gravel type chips as the base around the plants etc and Jager hated walking on it and would end up pee'ing on the concrete instead. So we pulled it all out and but bark down and he was perfect with that, which is why we use it at our current place. Helps keep the moisture in the soil so you don't need to water so much as well.

[MadWoofter]

I used to use eucalyptus bark as a mulch in my yard.... until Fleming reacted to it. It wasn't so much the eucy mulch itself, but the dust that came with it. He's OK if I put it out and dampen it down to get rid of the dust (and he does like lying in it). Just something to be aware of.

Can't help with the urine draining side of it though as they have a wee-spot that's dirt.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I used pea straw, it only lasts a year but it's easy to put out, holds together well with dogs running on, and helps replenish the soil.

Mum got tumbled gravel stuff - ie it's all rounded corners no jaggedy bits and doesn't bother the dog or get stuck in shoes like regular gravel. A bit like river stones but a little bit less ankle busting.

Not great for stiletto heels tho.

Drains really well.

Would be no good for dogs who like to eat stones and rocks.

Dog friendly plants - salt bush seems pretty good. It's edible - for humans and sheep - so I reckon it's probably edible for dogs too - not that mine has been interested.

[hankdog]

Register for free mulch. It's normally nice big chips and they give you a big pile , for nothing. I have a lovely blue poa grass that's never set seed and is quite soft. The lomandra a are tough but you need to cut off the flower spikes before they go prickly and damage a dogs eye. My friend also has "boxes" really large cubes made of double sleepers, the dogs can jump up on top to catch some sun or sleep underneath for shade. A few at different angles and heights could be a fun feature for dogs to play on. She also has a few crates on stilts that the dogs love to go in and out of.