Taming wild garden-snackers with a dog run

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Bodie Stout was tired of going to the trouble of raising a garden only to have freeloaders show up at harvest time and eat most of the produce. From raccoons and rabbits to deer and skunks, she had them all.

"It was frustrating," she said. "I could never really harvest much of anything. By fall, almost everything would be nibbled on or gone completely. In a typical year, I'd end up with about 10 percent of what I'd grown." When a neighbor offered to give her a chain-link dog run that was no longer being used, an idea clicked.

Why not use the enclosure to protect her vegetables? Instead of growing them traditionally, she planted them in containers, put the containers inside the dog run and added a chain-link roof to put them out of reach except by opening the gate.

The critters haven't figured out how to do that yet, and the difference is dramatic. Nestled in the wooded backdrop of the Stouts' home on the edge of Idaho's Boise Front is a harvest that would please almost any gardener.

"Instead of eating 10 percent of what I plant, we're getting 100 percent," she said.

The dog run isn't large _ 6 by 12 feet and 6 feet high _ but its contents belie its small size. Inside is a thicket of 23 tomato plants, two large containers of green bean plants, two eggplants, pepper plants, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers and more. It's hard to say which is more eye-catching, Stout's dog-run garden or her nearby potato garden. She plants her potatoes inside stacks of used tires, which tire stores give her for free. Nets over the tops of the stacks protect the plants from birds.

To help control insects, she grows marigolds in the dog run along with the vegetables. She's also experimenting with banana peels and egg shells.

"I put the egg shells in the oven and bake them to dry them out," she said. "The bugs don't like to crawl across them. I also used coffee grounds. They supply nitrogen and minerals and break up the clay soil. And I don't think the bugs like them, either." Stout said she and her husband had reached the point that damage from pests made them wonder whether it even made sense to plant a garden.

Now they have a garden that produces more than they need, uses remarkably little space and is all but labor-free.

"There's no weeding because everything is in planters or tires. I have a hose right by the dog run, which makes watering easy.

"I spend zero time on gardening now except for watering, and that's hardly any time at all." The benefits of dog-run gardening have her contemplating something she once wouldn't have thought possible: "I didn't get my garden until July 4 this year because of the late spring. Next year I'm going to shoot for Memorial Day, so the results should be even better. I might actually do some canning."

15% Off Christmas Blowout Sale

___

© 2008, The Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho).