Last year we scored a handful of dog kennel panels from a neighbor and recycled them to serve as a barrier around the garden. I say barrier because that’s what we need to keep the dogs out of the food source.  Something tall to prevent them from jumping over. We grow a lot of tomatoes and onions which aren’t good for their belly.  Chicken wire wasn’t doing the job, so we needed to try something else. 

These were perfect! 

It took us a couple of weeks to get the dirt ready to plant.  No rototiller here.  We use a shovel to turn the dirt.  It’s very relaxing and a great stress reliever. 

Almost ready.

Every year I use the fabric landscaping in the garden.  Love this stuff!

This collection of plants and flowers was my Mother’s Day gift this year.  I like using starter plants for the tomatoes, green peppers, various hot peppers, cabbage, and broccoli.  The spinach and collard greens are started from seeds.  There is limited space inside the house and three nosy dogs who would probably dig in the pots if we would attempt to start everything from seeds.

While we were planting Disco was having fun rolling in the grass with his football.

Our neighbor allowed us to chose the panels that we wanted.  We found a gate in the pile and it works great.  Adam positioned the plants according to their height and away from the door.  In previous gardens we were stepping over plants to water other plants and realized we didn’t leave ourselves enough leg room.  Another benefit of using the fabric landscaping.

Everything is growing except my spinach.  I’ve had trouble with this in previous years.  Not sure what I’m doing wrong, but oh well. Next year I’m planting kale in it’s place.

I’ll be sharing more pictures as the garden progresses.

If you have dogs and need a solution to keep them out of the garden, look for a kennel.  Check your local paper, recycling center, or Craigslist for a used one.  Some use the kennel to contain them in one place.  We’re using it to keep them out of one place.

So, do you plant a garden?