Doug is a digger. I don’t mean he’s an actual digger; I don’t use pet names for machinery (hell, I actually wish I had a digger).. No, what I mean is, he digs. A lot. If we’re going to successfully grow grass the seeds need to be able to actually take root before they’re dug up by our little digger. For that reason, we need to keep the dogs away from the soil.
This really only leaves us two options: We either keep the dogs out of the garden altogether. This means multiple walk-sessions throughout the day. Our first rented home actually had no garden and we used to do this with Todd.. It wasn’t a fun experience. So I was reluctant to do this. Plus, a dog walk just isn’t the same as having space to run freely…
So that leads me to option number 2, we build a temporary fence. A bit extreme you may think. I too, would agree. But this will give our seeds the best chance of survival, so I decided it was necessary. Doug’s quite small and likes to squeeze himself through small gaps so we needed something he wouldn’t be able to fit through. He’s also a jumper, so it needed to be fairly tall as well. After a bit of internet-searching, I decided to use this netting to make it with. At only £14.99 from Screwfix I thought (hoped) it would be worth it.
Firstly I stuck bamboo all around the border I intended to enclose. I used quite a lot so it was extra sturdy should they decide to try and beat it down (my dogs do that).
I then laid the netting out, with an in-and-out pattern between each bamboo sticks (does that make sense?!) and then used some twisty-ties to secure it.
I ran out of netting towards the end so I used some some other netting the lady who previously lived here had left. There was just enough to finish the job and of course make sure the raised brick bed was enclosed off as well. The dogs like jumping on there too. This bit looks rather messy, but so far it’s kept them out.
Finally I used tent pegs (getting inventive here) to secure the whole thing to the ground.
I don’t know how well this fence will hold up. It’s not the strongest, best executed fence idea in the world. Although it’s not bad either! But I didn’t want to overspend on something that was going to be taken down in a couple of weeks. Plus it allows the dogs to still use the garden and there’s still a fair amount of room to run about in.
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