Dog vs. Yard

I don't have much of what folks east of the Mississippi would call a lawn.

It's not because I'm lazy.

It's just that I accidently ended up with three dogs. These are not toy or miniature versions, but medium-to-large, Colorado-size dogs.

I watched the grass I had struggled to grow in sandy soil disappear almost overnight as my pups gamboled and skidded their way across it.

I work full time and choose not to crate my dogs. A dog run would require more fencing, dog houses and those electric water bowls that don't freeze or tip over. So, after their morning walk, my dogs have the run of the fenced backyard and the use of a dog door so they may go inside.

As a result, I was spending an inordinate amount of time mopping muddy footprints when it rained or snowed and vacuuming a thick layer of dirt when it didn't.

I knew I wasn't alone in this quandary. According to some national surveys, Colorado Springs is the most dog-friendly city in the country.

To protect my sanity, I had to work toward more dog-friendly landscaping.

I had already covered a portion of the yard in black, vegetation-inhibiting fabric topped with nearly two tons of pea gravel.

That worked out pretty well - after I pulled up the fabric and reshoveled the gravel directly onto the dirt. (Who knew that the edges of the fabric would soon peek through just enough to entice the dogs to rip it up, scrap by scrap?)

After a few half-hearted attempts involving shredded cedar (the dogs loved it - tasty!) and a truly ugly combination of five kinds of brick and patio stone, I was determined to find a solution.

Could I have a decent-looking yard without emptying my savings account? Would the solution involve covering my yard with concrete?

Artificial turf seemed like a possibility until I remembered my experience with the black fabric. All it would take is one little corner poking up to entice them into massive turf destruction.

Everyone I talked to shared useful tips and ideas.

To come up with a plan, I decided to talk to several local landscaping experts, then choose the suggestions that best fit my situation and finances.

My first stop was the El Paso County Colorado State University Extension office at 305 S. Union Blvd. Catherine Moravec, an extension agent, explained that our native grasses are "bunch" grasses that have a low tolerance for being trampled. She said the tough grass used on such high-traffic areas as football fields is good old Kentucky bluegrass, which requires lots of water. I'm concerned about water conservation, so that was out.

If I wanted greenery, she said, I should go with resilient shrubs, or vulnerable plants surrounded by aromatic plants that repel animals.

The phone book ad for Phelan Gardens, 4955 Austin Bluffs Parkway, mentioned sod, rock and mulch installation. But it's evident that the nursery's main focus is traditional lawns. Ross Krummel, a Colorado master gardener working there, was happy to show me around the bags of corn gluten fertilizer, grass blends and aged manure. When I asked about rocks and gravel, Krummel said they had some in their displays, but really didn't deal in them. His suggestion of fencing off half the yard while I planted grass and it grew strong, then letting the dogs on that while I planted the other half - and continuing back and forth, letting the dogs ruin one side and then the other, sounded like too much railing against nature to me.

Vicki Webster, a sales associate for C&C Sand and Stone Co., 2635 Steel St., proposed a reasonable compromise. She's a big-dog owner and thought it would be a shame to deprive the critters of grass. Her suggestion of a 6-by-6-foot plot of grass surrounded by flagstone pathways sounded doable.

She suggested filling the spaces between the flagstones with a base material called breeze, a sandy mix that packs down concretetough. She had another tip: Place chicken wire anywhere you don't want dogs to dig. That would prove to be very useful information.

Brenda Williams, sales manager for Don's Garden Shop at 6001 E. Platte Ave. asked me if I had used fabric pins with the fabric I had put under the rocks.

There are pins? Nobody told me about the pins! Apparently, these pins hold the fabric to the ground.

As we looked over the rock selection, she explained that even though lava rock is more expensive, it's lighter, so you get more volume in a ton of it than you do with the less-expensive river rock. Yet another good tip.

The first suggestion from sales associate Bridgette Swaney in the garden center at Home Depot, 102 N. Academy Blvd., was "No metal edging! They'll cut themselves!"

I believe she was speaking from experience. She further proved her knowledge of dogs by talking about using corrugated tubing around tree trunks to protect them when the dogs try to climb after squirrels. She also recommended using untreated bark chips for décor or mulch because the chips aren't coated with stuff the dogs find sweet. Her idea of white marble chips, bricks and pavers and some mugo pine, juniper or dogwoods was encouraging. She pointed out whiskey barrels for container gardening as a work-around for plant-eating dogs.

I asked about yucca.

"Only in nonaccessible areas. It's too pokey."

I had plenty of options before me. Now, all I needed was a plan that I could afford to implement, would work together, and didn't involve too much ripping up of what I'd already done.

I first used curved path stones to create what I imagined as a little desert area with yucca and large rocks artfully arranged on sand. That idea went out the window when I saw one of my dogs lying blissfully on the sand in the shade.

The money I spent on grass seed and chicken wire in my kidney bean-shape grassy area was a waste. My dogs didn't dig, but they had no problem walking all over it. It never had a chance. I resorted to sod - covered with chicken wire and topped with welded-wire fencing until its roots are strong enough to withstand some digging. It is surrounded by small bricks to reduce the amount of breeze that gets flung onto the grass as the dogs run by.

The flagstone pavers proved to be the toughest to work with, but the most rewarding. Some of the flagstone pavers at C&C Sand were 50- or 60-pound slabs. They were difficult to lug around, and I had to choose only those that fit into the back of my SUV and on the back seat. I called it quits after two trips of about eight flagstones each. But arranging them into pathways was fun, and many are covered with plant fossils so beautiful you'd swear they were painted by an artist. I had two tons of breeze delivered and packed it around the flagstone.

The rest of the dirt is now covered by areas of river rock, breeze, and a few landscape timbers and big rocks I already had scattered around my property. I bought a couple of cedar barrel pots and planted a thorny shrub in each. One of the shrubs vanished overnight and had to be replaced with a mugo pine that has so far survived the dogs' interest.

The transformation took a few weeks of moderate effort on my part and about $400.

You won't be seeing my yard in Better Homes and Gardens magazine any time soon but I'm back to cleaning my house only once a week. And for that alone, it was way worth it.