Friday, November 16, 2012

Gardening With Dogs

Suzy.


Every garden step Suzy's nose touched the back of my bare thighs.  The era before daytime mosquitoes, and gardening in shorts.



I'm good at camping.  It's all about delegation & knowing your own job.  My job is to be charming, read Jane Austen, drink champagne, walk from Edisto to Edingsville at low tide, ride my bike, play in the water, eat a delicious dinner of vegetables grown on the island & seafood caught in the morning, and always-always-always be with Suzy.



Suzy loved lake life better than the beach.  Her little sidekick Taz & her mom Chui Chui, above.  The ride home was always the same, sound asleep.  I can still smell those rides.



Happiest girls in the world, above.
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Time does not heal all wounds.
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Garden & Be Well,                   XO Tara
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Suzy taught me a lot about gardening with dogs.  Virginia Hendrick, a client, had a dog who was a RUNNER.  Her dog completed my gardening with dogs education!  As proof, her garden was chosen for the cover of a book.  And her dog did not destroy it.
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Content in a Cottage has a woman & dog love affair story running thru it.  A lucky woman.

8 comments:

Divine Theatre said...

No. Some wounds lay bare for an eternity. I am so sorry.

xo

Cyndia said...

Maybe you need to write a book on gardening with dogs. I adore my two, but they and the garden do not always mesh with my vision of it. So I adapt my vision, because I can't imagine being without either.
Love the pics of Suzy. And thanks for another blog to read!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful post. What a lucky girl Suzy was!

My dogs make mincemeat of my yard, but they're thriving, and the bushes are surviving. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Maggy

Susan S said...

You've made me cry. I feel and echo your sentiment.

emmachas said...

Thank you for that sweet post, Tara. It spoke to my heart. Our Schatzie, a rescued dog, was my constant gardening companion for 17 years. How I miss that feeling of her brushing against my legs as I work. Still a hole in my heart after 18 months.

Lynne said...

I am sitting here with tears...
Our chocolate "Gousse" has her nose resting on my lap as I write. She just came in from patrolling her stormy back yard. I know the smell.
Such a lovely and heartfelt post you
share this day.
~Lynne
w/L.

Barbara Pilcher said...

Lovely post.

Because we have a dog, our back yard is fenced. And that lets me grow things that deer like that my unfenced neighbors can't grow.

But because our dog is a beagle -- a scent hound -- I can't apply anything organic that smells. She's been known to dig up bone meal and eat dirt with fish emulsion. But who cares? Misty's what matters.

Nita Stacy said...

Yes, what is the good of a garden that does not allow a dog? My friend landscaped her whole backyard two years ago...she spent thousands....like $25,000 to have her dream landscape. She has four dogs. She decided they would not be allowed out in the main backyard without her for fear they would run trenches and or dig. They were relegated to the side yard. I know how much she loves her dogs...and I said to her..."Right, we'll see how long that lasts." It lasted about a month. She just couldn't do it. One of the reasons she wanted a redone backyard was to sit in it and enjoy it....such joy comes from watching her dogs explore and run in it too. They LOVE their backyard.....yes,...they do a little damage but nothing that cannot be easily fixed. That yard is their's too! I call my backyard the weenie habitat. Yes, there is a path where they run to the back fence every day. So...its a path....every garden needs a path...and they made their own. I think about using gravel there but then they'd probably move their path. Love your blog as always. Looks like you had very special dogs in your garden.