Gardening Advice & Tips for Irish Gardeners

Dog proofing my vegetable garden I should have known this day would come. Since day one my dog has taken a liking to the raised beds. This week the curiosity got the better of him as he went sniffing around my recently sowed beds. Luckily enough there is not too much damage to report; just a few paw prints in the soil and no-doubt, some of seed pushed deep down into the soil, but at least he didn’t go digging or try bury one of his bones.

Every year I lose at 50% of my flower plants to my dog who has a thing for fresh new flower buds; tulips, roses and daffodils buds are quickly devoured before they get a chance to bloom. I can’t really blame my pup, the buds do look delicious and irresistible. But if he can do that to my flowers, what will he do to my vegetables? I for one do not want to find out, so today I erected a make-shift wire mesh fence to protect my even more delicious vegetables.

Because it’s been raining on and off all morning the fence was hastily built. I had a few timber posts and some old long handles lying around and these were perfect to hold the fence up. I used a 50mm 1m high wire mesh fence. After wrapping it around the posts I nailed the mesh in place using 1/2” staples. So far the fence has stayed up, it looks unsightly, but on a more clement day I will do a more permanent job. For me, things have to look neat and tidy, so a big floppy wire fence strewn across my garden is already upsetting me.

While on an aesthetic level the fence is a disappointment, on a practical level however it works just fine. And for something that took only 30min to construct it's effectiveness has surprised me. My dog has just had a sniff at the fence and turned back... Success! Now, maybe once the garden is teeming with all wonders of fruit and veg he might test the fence a little more. But in the meantime, my young seeds and seedlings are enclosed and protected.

To make a more secure and neat fence in the future I will need to buy four strong corner posts and bury them about 1 ½ ft into the ground. I want deep and secure corner posts so that I can pull a line of high tensile wire across the top of the fence. If I run the wire and loop it through the top of the mesh fencing I can really create a neat and sturdy barrier. The final height will be 1m, but I am not going to bury any wire underground – so I hope he doesn’t learn how to dig himself a tunnel! This leaves the only way through my fence is over it. But from experience I know he would need to make a long running jump to clear 1m, and in my garden he won’t find the space!

So, now that my fence is in place, I can rest assured that my carrots, onion sets, garlic and beetroot seedlings won’t be trampled on any more.

Elsewhere, this weekend I started hardening off my indoor sown courgettes and broccoli. I have moved the seed trays and pots outside during the day to acclimatise them, but I will continue to bring them in during the night. While my pumpkins are flying ahead and soaring to a height of 10cm, my chillies and butternut squash have yet to germinate. They require a temperature of around 18 degrees to germinate and need a heated propagator, which I don’t have. So, germination is slower than hoped, but I'm sure they will get there soon