Can you happily share your garden with your dog? As designer Paul Hervey-Brookes prepares his Hampton Court Flower Show garden, A Dog’s Life, he offers tips on how to create a garden that dogs and their owners can happily share

AWARD-WINNING garden designer Paul Hervey-Brookes has three dogs – two spaniels, Honey and Arthur, and a Japanese chin called Nina – none of whom have yet trashed his beautiful garden in the Cotswolds.

But then Hervey-Brookes is confident that you can easily share your space with your pooches without having them dig up the lawn or eat your prized flowers.

His show garden, A Dog’s Life, for this year’s Hampton Court Flower Show should give owners food for thought.

Features include sniffer tracks weaving through the herbaceous borders for dogs to forage and sniff out treats, a woodland area that incorporates a ramp over a raised wall for agility, while leaf-litter areas within the planting allows dogs to dig and scratch.

“Arthur is a bit more boisterous than the other two and likes to run around and run through things, which is what gave us the idea of making these little weaving paths,” Hervey-Brookes explains.

“The damage that was happening was accidental, because of his excitement, so we looked at how we could accommodate that in a way that keeps the garden looking attractive, not ruined.”

Honey likes rolling around in the gravel or on grass, while Nina enjoys foraging for little chews and treats that her master leaves hidden for her to discover throughout the garden.

“She’d find them and chew, and have a little sleep, just to help calm her down.

“We used a lot of planting in the garden which has that calming quality, like lavender, so that going out for a walk became much more of a place where they run and bound.

“Going into the garden is much more gentle exercise. There’s a bit of training there.”

His dogs have been trained to do their business at a particular point on a gravel path, which makes it easier to clean up.

Amateur gardeners could make raised beds incorporating tunnels under them, so their dogs have things to run through.

“As long as that inquisitive characteristic is being channelled, the chances are they’re not going to get bored and just dig in one place.

“Dogs don’t destructively dig things up just for the sake of it. If a foliage is scented, they might rub up against it or have a little nibble, but nine times out of 10 that’s as far as it goes.

“It’s about thinking sensibly. If you’ve got alliums, which are a bit fragile, don’t plant them right at the front of the border, let them grow through something like a woody shrub, so there’s less risk of damage.”

Retain a good structural backbone of shrubs, which will keep the garden looking neat all year round, he advises.

“Use robust, hard-working perennials, which are going to have a long season of interest and don’t mind taking the odd knock. There’s no point using very delicate plants which your pet might damage because you’re just going to get cross with the dog.

“We plant agastache because it’s self-supporting, with robust foliage and a lot of flower for a long season, monarda and alchemilla, as opposed to using things like delicate aquilegia, which won’t stand up to a garden being used.”

Avoid anything poisonous – a list from The Dogs Trust (www.dogstrust.org.uk) is available online – like foxglove, holly (the berries are poisonous), and achillea (the foliage is poisonous to dogs).

The trust, which is sponsoring Hervey-Brookes’s show garden at Hampton Court, offers the following additional tips:

  • Keep your dog safe with secure garden borders. Judge the height based on your dog’s breed and temperament, and consider the regulations affecting your property. Also regularly check for any gaps that your dog can wriggle through.
  • Features that offer different heights can give dogs vantage points to enjoy. Railways sleepers, steps and small benches can all be used to create versatility.
  • A variety of textures in your garden can provide extra sensory stimulation – this could be non-toxic sand, grass, wood chippings or gravel, all of which provide interesting places to hide dog toys and treats, and for your dog to explore.
  • A quiet retreat or spot in which to shelter and use at their leisure can help your dog to feel safe.
  • RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show runs from Tuesday, July 5, to Sunday, July 10. For details, visit www.rhs.org.uk.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT: PERPETUAL SPINACH

Darlington and Stockton Times:

THIS healthy green leaf can give you spinach all year round, although it tastes slightly different to ‘real’ spinach – a bit like Swiss chard – and the leaves are shinier and a bit tougher.

It can be sown from April to July thinly in rows where you want the plant to crop. Space seedlings by thinning to 15cm (6in) apart, with 30cm between rows. Keep plants well watered and weed regularly.

Use them as soon as leaves are large enough to pick. Sow a row or two mid-summer under cover and the plants should stay in good condition in through the winter and start growing again in spring.

BEST OF THE BUNCH: VERBENA

Darlington and Stockton Times:

OF COURSE, the beautiful perennial verbena bonariensis is a must for its delicate, see-through character and height without weight, giving value to a sunny border or in gravel.

But the low-growing, tender, perennial verbena, usually grown as an annual, is also featured prominently in baskets and pots.

Add organic matter to the soil before planting, deadhead regularly and water in dry weather.

Trailing varieties in the cascade series have small-bloom clusters in shades of purple, blue, pink, red and white, while the tapien series has larger, rounded flower clusters.

Try v. Sissinghurst, with its large, round clusters of magenta-pink flowers.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

  • Prune shrubs, including chaenomeles, deutzia, philadelphus, weigela and spiraea as soon as they have finished flowering.
  • Use markers to indicate the location of bulb clumps if you are planning to do any major planting later this year.
  • Thin out any hardy annuals that are still too closely packed.
  • Trim herbaceous geraniums using a pair of shears to remove faded flowers, helping the plants to remain bushy and, in many cases, produce a second flush of flowers later in the summer or early autumn.
  • Continue to pinch-out shoot tips on summer bedding to help the plants remain bushy and not become straggly.
  • Use edging shears to neaten up lawn edges once a week and throw the trimmings onto the compost heap.
  • Continue to plant out tender vegetables raised from seed such as sweetcorn, courgettes, marrows, French beans and runner beans.
  • Prune plums, cherries, nectarines and almonds.
  • Harvest the last of the rhubarb. After June it tends to become stringy.
  • Use a hand fork to weed areas such as terraces, patios or paths where weeds are growing up through the cracks.