Landscaping Tips for Families and Pet Owners

If you have pets or small children - or even larger children, you need to make safety a priority in your landscaping. Children are attracted to water like bees to honey and this can be fatal to little ones. It takes only a few inches of water to drown a toddler. Always be sure that any pool, pond or water feature is in a safe position, inaccessible to toddlers. Water features can sometimes topple over if little ones try to climb up to touch the water.

Tools must be stowed properly, not left lying about on the lawn or in the garden where little feet could get spiked or cut. When mowing, be sure the children are not close by because there is danger from flying rocks or pebbles. Even a small twig can hurt when it flies out from a spinning mower blade. Missiles like this that would hit an adult’s thigh, could take out a child’s eye.

The garden shed should have a sturdy lock on it and all poisonous stuff must be kept on a high shelf. In fact, it’s a good idea to try safe alternatives to poison. There are many good books on this subject. Sharp tools can be hung from a high nail. Fuel for the mower should be kept with the lid screwed on very tight, or another heavy drum stacked on top so that it cannot be undone.

Even cats and dogs tend to chew anything that takes their fancy, so make sure you don’t leave bulbs and corm lying about. Some of them are fatally toxic to domestic pets. Slug and snail baits can be attractive to dogs and cats so hide it in a heavy pipe or under a rock. Never use cocoa bean mulch or products on your garden if you have a dog. Theobromine is the substance in it that many dogs are really sensitive to and it can kill them.

Keep children and pets away from an area that has been sprayed with a poisonous substance. Follow the safety directions on the packet implicitly. Usually it is 24 hours or until the product has dried.

Dogs and cats often like to disturb gravel or mulch on your paths, so cement paving may be the answer. A temporary fence of chicken wire will help a new garden to escape the ravages of a playful dog or cat. Planting tougher, larger plants close together will help to reduce the temptation of bare soil your dog is just itching to dig a hole in. You might also consider building a dog run to keep your dog off the garden until you are out there with him.

Cats prefer to dig in loose, dry soil, so if you’ve just planted seeds or seedlings, keep the earth quite moist. Keep a special place of loose dry soil for kitty to ‘go’ on. Start it off with some kitty litter, as they seem to love the smell of that. Once kitty has a special place to use, he will usually keep to it.

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