29 July, 2009

Pepper Spray for the Yard, Asiatic Lilies, and Our Mini Fence is Complete (Almost)

Perhaps I am getting a tad bit obsessive about the whole thing. In my spare moments, I find myself Googling search terms like "homemade dog deterrent" or "organic doggie no." I stare out the window, ready to catch neighbors in the act of letting their dogs use our flowerbed as a toilet. At three o'clock this morning you would have found me in the yard, sprinkling a mixture of black pepper, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper along perimeter, because I read on some gardening forum that it was guaranteed to keep dogs out. It made my eyes water, I'm sure it would tickle Fido's nose, too.

It's all meant to act as backup for the mini wrought iron fence I finished putting up. Please note that I took all pictures at a slight angle so you can't see that the fence is a bit crooked. I'll be straightening that out shortly. Here it is from the sidewalk (note the absolutely useless No Dogs sign):

And from within the yard:

I know, I know, I really need to cut the grass. Somebody last year, I won't say who, thought a push mower was the way to go. It's actually a pain to use, and won't even cut through the wheat grass or crab grass. So I've upgraded to an electric mower. I just need to get it assembled. And we haven't had any real rain in weeks, so everything is crunchy. So it's not looking its best right now.

A close up from within:

The purple shrubs are Diablo Ninebarks. They've more than doubled in size since I planted them last fall, and will get up to eight or nine feet.

Looking out toward the corner, at the river birth we planted last summer. To the left is a Centerglow Ninebark I planted a month or so ago.

In the distance, you can see the tacky black plastic I'm using on the parkway corner to kill weeds and grass. Not sure what I'm planting out there yet, maybe some more of these:

Oopsy, I forgot to rotate that photo. How about this:

The Asiatic Lilies are pretty much maintenance free, and we've had blooms going on for over a month now. It the dogs get to them, though, they're goners.

So yeah, I admit it. I'm obsessed with keeping roaming critters from destroying our investment. And even though I used the pepper combo early this morning, for good measure I just a few moments ago sprinkled the perimeter with a commerical doggie no product.

I'll let y'all know how it goes. The problem isn't the dogs, it's the people attached to the other end of the leash.

7 comments:

Debra said...

I love your yard! The flowers are gorgeous.

When I moved into this rental, there were 3 stray cats living in the garage. I tried desperately to keep them out of there cause they stink it up.

Then I bought an SUV in March. The little creatures started sitting on top of it every chance they got. That meant war. I bought this animal repellant stuff for $10, small container; it DID NOT WORK. I tried moth balls around my car. I tried spraying them with the hose when I seen them on it.

Finally, I managed to catch two of them and took them to the humane society. There is still one cat, but he stays off the SUV. He's too wild to catch, so I'm grateful he doesn't find it appealing.

I hope the dogs stay off your yard, it's so frustrating when you work hard for something and people let their animals ruin it.

Jan Marie said...

What kind of people would let their dogs do their business on someone property?

What exactly is the ordinance concerning this? Maybe post a sign with the ordinance. Maybe a motion detector sprinkler could be set up to spray the dog if he comes onto your property.

Maybe a sign saying their photo will be taken and posted on the Internet for all to see.

Of course you shouldn't have to do any of this because people should have common sense.

Love the doggie sign.

Anonymous said...

I feel your doggie pain. The people next door have staked their little slobbering, barking terrier on our property line. He has eaten all of my hostas to the ground. And he's just annoying. And I'm a total dog person too....but this particular dog...just irritates me.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you know, but asiatic lilies are incredibly dangerous to animals. If the dogs get to them, they could be goners too. I just wanted to share the lesson I learned the hard way.

Anonymous said...

Admittedly I don't know exactly 100% what you're going through, but it sounds like you're obsessing about your garden. I say this only because you go so far as to not care if a dog suffers and dies just because he or she gets too close to the Asiatic Lilies.

I'm just saying, there's more to life than wishing the suffering of a dog that can't help that its owner is a moron.

Joanne said...

Dear Anonymous Poster, 09 October: I had no idea that Asiatic Lilies are toxic to dogs until the previous anonymous poster clued me in. So I'm not sure how you think I "go so far as to not care if a dog suffers and dies" or that I am "wishing the suffering of a dog." Of course I wouldn't wish ill on dogs. I love dogs, and have always had them around.

Unless you misinterpreted my statement "if the dogs get to them, though, they're goners" I meant the flowers, not the dogs. The flowers die within days when they get peed on, they can't tolerate the salt content of dog urine any more than grass can.

All that said, a dog should not be allowed to go up against the foundation of my house or in my berry patch, because yes, some owners have let their dogs wander on 20 foot leashes and into my backyard (we're a corner lot) to pee on my food crops. And a few weeks ago, as my mother was taking the trash to the curb, she slipped on a pile of dog poo in the dark and fell.

So, I will continue to use hot pepper mixtures, which seem to be effective. A dog will get a snootful and sneeze, but it won't cause permanent damage and they will avoid the garden in the future.

Unknown said...

This spray Mace Or Pepper Spray
provides you the ability to prevent or best self defense from attack, giving you time to get away and seek help.