07. Creating Boundaries

If it weren't for Bella, I might not get out everyday for a walk. She's pretty darn good at reminding me that it's time to stop work and get into the woods. I picked her out of a litter of eight, on a dairy farm in northern Vermont. She's a blue healer/blue tick hound cross, and can catch a Frisbee as high as 6 feet in the air. When she came to live me, it was the day after Country Gardens had sent a crew to photograph my gardens, and I had spent weeks planting and primping the garden. The timing was perfect, since it took a single day with Bella to remind me that puppies and gardens don't mix. Learning boundaries is good for puppies, plants and people!

Kitchen Garden Tip #7: Create good boundaries for your garden with a fence, a natural arbor vitae hedge of a thick mass of flowers to indicate where the lawn ends and the garden begins. Mulch with bark, stepping stones or straw to indicate foot paths, which keeps the garden clear of traffic.

p.s. Bella did eventually learn about boundaries. Here she is as a one year old puppy, patiently waiting for me to put my garden rake down and throw her the Frisbee.