Our dogs will stop at nothing!!!! to destroy Jessica’s plantings. Flowerbed? Dig it up. New lawn? Dig it up. Newer lawn? Refuse to play anywhere else; chase each other relentlessly for eight hours a day until the grass seed is ground to powder. Fence? What fence? Doggie repellent? That’s for city dogs. Flowerbeds strewn with rose branches bearing vicious thorns? What’s one punctured paw pad–I have 19 more!

Jess’ response this year was to build a compound in the front lawn. She took my sledgehammer and pounded steel stakes around the perimeter. She wrapped a double layer of our garden fencing around the stakes. She fastened the fence to the ground with stones. She made sure the dogs couldn’t come up the steep cutaway in front and slip under the fence; and she gave them a little gap to pass by in front so they wouldn’t have to try to jump over it.

Then she scraped up the hard soil with a rake, scattered seed, and added lots of manure. You can even see some of the pine shavings she threw down in an effort to soften the ground. Recent rains have kept it moist; now all we need is a bit more warmth for a while. She’s added abundant seed; she’s bought a 25-pound sack from the local feed store and put a quarter of it down inside this compound. (This is in addition to the grass seed I planted last fall.)

So far, her fence is working. There’s no sign of green grass yet, but it’s early. Her plan is to plant half the lawn at a time, and move the compound over to the north side when grass on the south half is well established. It might take a few months, but that’s better than nothing. Between the energetic dogs, the hard ground, and the poor mountain soil, the grass has a hard time. But with much protection and even more manure, it may grow.

Now we have to deal with the birds. They’re eating the grass seed.