First,
let me tell you I am basically
a cat lover. We have always had cats in my family, but dogs have
played an important part too. My first dog was a Doberman Pincher
puppy that was a Christmas gift when I was only twelve years old
living in Southern California. My parents gave in to my request
to allow “Buttons and me” to race around the backyard for just that
first week until he became adjusted. That was a big
mistake! We have both been non-conformists ever since and
I never become adjusted.
The
next dog was not until I was forty-two, but was at my
choosing. After I sold my engineering business in New Jersey and
retired, we moved to a large wooded waterside location on Long Island,
New York. This is the place to have a dog, I thought.
I had always wanted to have a pet that would follow me around and
help tramp through the woods and out in the water on hikes and outings.
Well, we found the perfect dog at the local pound – a young Golden
Retriever. She became our “Molly.” We did tramp the
woods, and we had many outings on the water, and Molly was a perfect
companion. |
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Brr
-- This is why we left
Buffalo and moved to Calif. |
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One
thing though – I’ve never liked the idea of cleaning up the
yard after a dog. That’s one reason I appreciate cats. They
always hide their business – so I trained Molly to use a portion of the
woods we wouldn’t use out behind the garage. Whenever we let her out to
go, I would encourage her to keep moving along to the proper area by saying,
“Hurry up Molly.” It then became a call to Molly to “Go do your hurry-up.”
As most dog owners well know, a dog will only go as far as when you become
out of sight. I guess they don’t realize you’re going to know by
the evidence just how far they went. She was especially cunning in winter
when it was cold and the ground was covered with snow. Since we didn’t
follow her out the back door and around the garage to watch, I guess she
thought she could do the same. It was a constant battle, but I must say
she put up with a lot having me as her master.
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Molly Smooching with the TV
Crew |
Molly
loved to be on the set whenever the video crew came to
tape our television show. She would have much preferred hanging
out with the crew because they all patted her and had no demands
for her. Can you see her in this photo smooching with the
TV Director? On the other hand, when she was with me and in a scene,
I was constantly “directing her,” yet she seemed to also like to
perform and learned quickly when, where and how to walk around the
set or to be in that scene. The one thing I learned was that when
you have raised sides on your garden boxes, dogs learn very quickly
to walk around and not step in the growing soil. It’s almost
as if they read Rule #6
(See our “How To” page).
Now
cats are a different animal. Either they can’t read, don’t
listen, or are just independent enough that they are going to do
whatever they darn well please. Of course when I explain that
Mel’s Mix (See Rule #4)
is so soft, loose and friable you won’t have any trouble digging
in it, they suddenly perk up their ears and think you just told
them it’s a great litter box you’ve built just for them. And
if you plant the herb, catnip, in one of your squares (4 plants
per square foot), well then you might just as well put their name
on that garden box. |
However,
the good news is that while you can easily train dogs
to stay out of your Square Foot Garden, there is a way you can protect
the same garden from a cat. If any of you have seen our classic
video series (see our product page), you’ll see the scene where
my granddaughter, Casey, helps me protect a children's 3-foot x
3-foot sandbox from cats (using it as a litter box) with a portable
wire cage. Now, guess what that young child is going to want their
sandbox converted to as soon as they get a little older, and they’ve
been watching mommy and daddy gardening right next to them.
They’re gonna want their own garden of course and how do you convert
it? Very simply – just replace the sand with Mel’s Mix, lay
down a grid, and let them start planting. So you can see that a
Square Foot Garden is a great family project not only for adults
but also for all the kids, dogs and cats as well. |
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| Keeps
Cats Out (squirrels too) |
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This
next photo is of Suzy’s dog “Duzy” helping me learn how
to snowshoe
in
Sun Valley, Idaho when we can’t garden. |
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The
last
is my daughter Gail’s dog “Sadie”
in
Maine where it’s tough to garden
with
all those rocks.
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