Just a load of old Poo!

It's been five whole months since we closed our bookshop and just beginning to see daylight after two full-on and busy years.  At last back to the garden! Although this may be a cause of great jubilation to all my followers (er.... two? three?), the sad news is that the theme is less than salubrious..

We have a new addition to the family!   Mojo, our Staffie x German Shepherd has not only given us great joy but an abundance of poo!  This is bit of a permaculture challenge as the disposal of dog faeces is very problematic due to the Toxicara worm. Having investigated dog loos, wormeries and some such have discovered that digestion time doesn't catch up with either Mojo's rate of output (three poos a day) or my ability to keep up with him! Lots of ideas here.

My solution is not ideal but began with Mojo himself!

 

I had been brushing the faeces - 'under the rug' of our large laurel arch. Obviously not an edible arch (keeping poo away from edibles is essential to keep Toxicara away from the food chain), and it presented a convenient and out of the way invisible solution. He began to dig a hole nearby just in front of the six foot fence we had to install (turns out he's both a digger and a jumper!) so I buried the waste in there. I researched septic tank sewage activators and found this recipe:

• 2 sachets of yeast granules
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 8-10 cups of lukewarm water

I mix the yeast and sugar with the water till smooth then leave it for half an hour to get going then pour over the poo.  I only do it about once a month. There always seems to be space for more doggydo so it does seem to be working since the yeast mixture turns it all to liquid and it dissipates away.

BUT there is an even more pressing issue.  Mojo runs free in the back garden - with an emphasis on runs: runs on flower/veggie beds, runs on the paths, runs into shrubs etc - so my vision of a veggie paradise was in real danger of not materialising.  What to do?

Well, I looked at his habits in the garden and noticed he wasn't particularly interested in going and 'going' on the beds if there was an obstacle.  One bed currently has a low growing rambling rose to one side and another has a small box hedge.  He NEVER enters the bed via these routes. So next year I'm going for a mixture of lavender and box hedging.  The lavender will edge the front of one of the beds as it gets full sun for most of the time and box elsewhere.

This doesn't solve the problem entirely.  The low hedges (I had thought that one of them could be step-over fruit trees but for Mojo's exhaust system  ) will take time to grow and even when it achieves the two/three feet height it still won't  be Mojieproof.  I can't afford him trampling over seedlings etc., under any circumstances.  So I'm going for containers.

I'm thinking that if I hedge off a whole plot - which isn't going to be a huge space - I can use it as a space for pots of veggies. We eat tons of salad crops and our veg growing tends to reflect this: outdoor toms, courgettes, cucumbers, onions and herbs, cut and come again lettuce.  I occurs to me that I could create a really pretty space using the hedging to contain rows of veggie pots.   Toms at the back, cucumbers in front, courgettes in front of those and I can use raised containers for the lettuce.  I've already got an apple and plum tree am training on wires so they'd make a great backdrop.

Well, drawing skills leave a lot to be
desired but I think this'll work.  Will post
the finished work next year!

Saw a fantastic tin bath for sale at a local junkshop. That's be great for the lettuce and possibly some onions. It's gone now but we have a reclamation yard a few miles away - think I'll go for a mooch.

Would look good in my stately home?
Well notsomuch but some freeform box
trimming will be a bit of fun if
 nothing else!

There's another small 11' circly/squarish plot in front of the window which I'm going to edge in box.  Saw a gardening programme with the box trimmed like a caterpillar.  Not going to attempt something so ambitious but would quite like to go for a freeform trim if poss to reduce the formality of the overall design.

I've always gone for a semi-wild look to the place - fits in with the Permaculture ethic but the Mojinator has meant resorting to drastic measures!  Will keep you posted!