BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Gardening Two part question regarding gardening with dogs and dump mulch.

Two part question regarding gardening with dogs and dump mulch

I have two dogs and they will inevitably walk over whatever I plant. I�ve planted some �wild-flower� ground cover and it has yet to sprout. I live in Utah and my back yard is one big mulch field because the dogs have killed the grass and I just covered the dead grass with three truck loads of mulch from the dump. My questions are: what is hearty enough to stand up to high traffic/dog poop and has anyone else had experience with mulch from the dump. Is it measurably worse than store bought mulch?

P.S. If you want a discount at Overstock.com use this link and save $20 on orders of $220 http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?...=49135&fp=p

I don't have a simple answer to your problem. I have always had dogs and I presently have two very large german shepards about 110 pounds. Both are three years old and are exceptionally good about minding my plants. They follow me all over the yard and see everything I'm doing. If they get bored, the female likes to chew my garden hand tools but they don't bother the plants. Thank GOD! I let them have one side of the yard. Don't laugh but I trained them to use their side of the yard...and thats where they always go. Lucky for me. My lawn is established but I keep the dog side clean every couple days. They seem to like playing and laying in the grass. Whenever I sodded an area, I did fence it off until it was established. You might try one of the gardening sites...hgtv.com or bhg.com. Hope they can provide a solution for you.

If we plant anything new we keep it fenced off until it is established otherwise they will trample it to death. We have 2 danes and a sheltie and the sheltie is a little digger.