The urban permaculture back yard and dogs: design brainstorm

[haroldw@alternatives.com (Harold Waldock)]

Permaculture Brainstorm!  Flex your designer grey matter!

What ideas work with mid sized younger dogs in sunny small back yards? What
have you seen work?  What does one have to watch out for?  What does not
work? Its time for some "fun" dog stories! Other friends have country
estates beside the forest and have 4 dogs.

My ideas so far:

Pattern Language : place to run, play, pooping place, no edible plant under
1.5ft high unless protected, raised beds for annual vegetables (2ft or
higher), fenced off areas including garbage cans and compost, Trees Shrubs
but no edible ground covers only nitrogen fixers (clover & lupine, Cystis,
Genista, Ceanothus etc ) and flowers & "pest attractors" instead.

Major patterns: 1) safe places for people to walk, sit and enjoy alone and
in groups, 2) food everywhere. 3) Views - nice things to look at. 4)
protecting fences & walls, trellis - big.


Strategies:  bury or mulch poop under trees and shrubs until the yard can't
take it then put it in the garbage. Plant nitrogen pumps - comfrey - where
the poop is.

PC Principles: a problem is a solution, everything works both ways,

Background:

There is wisdom in that PC teaching if you get to a place don't do anything
for a year - observe and "test" it.  Well, in cities its not so much the
land & natural ecology but the people: there are so many of them making a
huge impact on say a back 1000 (square feet that is)

I thought I gone to heaven when I joined this house in June where the
owners wanted a full edible landscape front and back: for the first time I
had permission to start with a whole yard where I lived.  It is  a shared
and community house that welcomes homeless who come to us via friends and
contacts. And there was a cat but no dog.  So, group process designing had
not been done due to "finding the community of interest that wanted to
think about the garden" and "timing". However, a dog (boxer sharpee X) was
brought home days before Christmas. Well, spring is nearly here and it is
time to get the yard done.

Location Vancouver, Canada, cool wet maritime weather with 1-2 month summer
droughts on sandy soils. More about the people and the organization at
http://www.freeyellow/members3/vancouver-cw/

Harold Waldock
haroldw@alternatives.com
Vancouver Permaculture Network