I have many garden helpers, but Cleo is the most regular of them all. I use ‘helper’ in the most loose sense of the term! In actual fact she’s pretty unhelpful most of the time. However, how could I ever hold a grudge looking at that little face…? She’s adorable. Though, I may be a little biased.
Mischief, poop, and potatoes
Cleo can mainly be found searching for mischief wherever she goes or eating things that she really shouldn’t. She has a soft spot for poop. Cat poop. Much to her delight there is a big ginger Tom who visits the plot. He’s a bit evil, he terrorises the cat that actually lives at the plot but that’s a story for another day! Anyway, much to Cloe’s delight the Tom cat sometimes leaves a little ‘cat snack’ (poop) or two if we haven’t been over for a couple of days. most of the time I catch them before Cleo get a chance to nibble them but sometimes I’m not that lucky…[insert heaving noises here]. its disgusting. Cleo is disgusting. But, she is a dog…a disgusting beastie of a dog.
Aside from the poop fetish I have learnt that the veggie garden is actually a pretty hazardous space for a pooch to roam. This year she has already had an emergency vet visit because she ate a mouldy seed potato! it was absolutely my fault and I felt awful. I had tipped out a big pot of potatoes that were forgotten about from before the winter and Cleo grabbed a mouldy spud and devoured it before I could stop her. Note to all gardening pet parents: potatoes are really poisonous to our puppers so keep an eye on them when you’re digging up those tubers! Cleo and I learnt the hard way on that one! It was really scary, and expensive. She has made a total recovery though and is absolutely back to her old self – thank god. And, from now on I will be emptying potatoes when she’s not there, or somewhere she cant reach!
The destroyer of dreams and seedlings
Earlier this year I started all of my little pepper plants off in the house. I lovingly planted the tiny seeds in trays, gave them a grow light and waited nervously for them to start sprouting. When their green leaves pushed through the soil I potted them into individual modules to continue their growing and labelled each type. I gave them pride of place on the brightest windowsill I had so they got the very best start in life that I could provide. I came home from work to the above photo. Seedlings decimated, soil all over the windowsill and floor, and Cleo sleeping soundly on the sofa. I saved the seedlings I could but there’s no way to know which seedlings were chilli seedlings or sweet pepper seedlings…urgh!!
She’s a digger though. She loves digging in any piles of soil left hanging around. It gives her the ‘zoomies’. I had actually started the veg plot before we welcomed Cleo into the family. So having a doggo really didn’t factor into the design – which really isn’t too ‘digger friendly’ to be honest! I opted for metal raised beds and whilst 5 of them are tabletop height, I chose 3 half heigh ones for ‘jazziness’. BIG mistake…they are perfect hopping height for this lady. I had to construct makeshift fences to go around them to keep her off whilst the plants established…because she demolished them.