Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

Here is a website listing evergreen shrubs. After you choose a shrub, go to a nursery and talk with a clerk or the owner. Tell them about your situation and find out if the shrubs will live:

http://gardening.about.com/od/treesshrubs/tp/Privacy_Hedge.htm

More information if needed:
http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06911.htm

You might have to put tall decorative art work in that area, or fake shrubs.

If you are able to find what you want at the nursery, do the following:

Buy a bag of compost from the nursery,
Dig your hole,
Fill hole with water and let it seep in,
Mix a slow-release fertilizer with some of the compost and the soil that you took out of the hole,
Plant your shrub using this mixture,
Water well.
If holes appear, fill them up with the rest of the compost and left over soil.

OR ask the nursery how to plant the shrubs.

Another thing you can do is large pretty decorative containers of evergreen shrubs or ornamental grasses. Click this link:

http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/grasses-for-shade.html

GardenersCardiff answers:

They can, but there’s really no need for them to. Dogs are carnivores, so they really have no need for grains or veggies and it isn’t really very easy for them to digest them. You do have to be careful of what you as well. Apple seeds are dangerous, as are raisins and grapes.

Give this a read to make sure you aren’t feeding anything dangerous (though, honestly, a couple of the things they say are ‘dangerous’ on there are actually just fine.):
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1659&aid=1030 (Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Dog)

Treats aside, I’d recommend getting him on a higher quality dog food. Iams is actually a very low quality dog food.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren’t safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n’ Bits, Beneful, Ol’Roy.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature’s Variety Prairie, Nature’s Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you’re getting what you’re paying for. Less filler material and higher quality ingredients means more concentrated nutrients… This means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!

Seriously on a budget? Two of the most affordable of the higher quality foods would be Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul and Canidae All Life Stages.

Before following your vet’s food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by… You guessed it, biased, low end pet food companies! They also often get kickbacks from the companies for pushing their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)

A great option is to go with an entirely grain-free diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grain-free formulas. Some good grain-free diets include: Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Ziwipeak, and Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain-free diet, Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo.

If you can’t find a food, most of the high quality dog food brands have websites with store locators on them that will help you find the store closest to you which supplies their products. Simply type the dog food brand’s name into Google, go to their website, and type your zip code into their store locator.

Another option, if you can’t find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here’s an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/

Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing the new slowly in with the old over the period of about week or so), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies. For example:
Days 1 & 2: 75% old food, 25% new food
Days 3 & 4: 50% old food, 50% new food
Days 5 & 6: 25% old food, 75% new food
Day 7: 0% old food, 100% new food

Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:
http://www.rawfed.com/ (RawFed)
http://www.rawlearning.com/ (Jane Anderson’s Raw Learning Site)
http://rawfeddogs.net/ (Raw Fed Dogs)
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/ (Raw Meaty Bones)
http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html (Raw Prey Model Diet Vs. BARF Diet)
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/ (Raw Feeding)
http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html (Myths About Raw Feeding)

Also remember that freefeeding (leaving food down) is the fast lane to canine obesity. Make sure to have scheduled feeding times loosely based on the feeding guidelines on your dog’s food. Adult dogs are typically fed two meals a day while puppies are typically fed three or four.

More on dog food:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog’s food.)
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ (Dog food reviews. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)

WARNING: Natura Pet Products (Innova, EVO, California Natural, Karma, Healthwise and Mother Nature) used to be high quality pet food products but Natura has recently sold out to Proctor & Gamble, a company known for it’s animal testing and low quality pet foods (they put out Iams and Eukanuba). If you are still feeding any of the products previously owned by Natura you may want to consider switching to a different food now that those products are owned by a large, shady company like Proctor & Gamble.

Http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/breaking-news-proctor–gamble-purchases-natura-pet-products.html (Breaking News: Proctor & Gamble Purchases Natura Pet Products)

Edit: Actually, Save Shelter Dog’s, it’s a myth that dogs are omnivores. 🙂

http://dogtorj.tripod.com/id51.html (Dogs are Carnivores)
http://rawfed.com/myths/omnivores.html (Myth: DOGS ARE OMNIVORES.)
http://www.doggedblog.com/doggedblog/2004/11/of_carnivores_o.html (Of Carnivores, Omnivores, Teeth, and Science)
http://rawdogfood.com.au/carnivores.html (DOGS ARE CARNIVORES)

Some skull comparisons:

http://fc02.deviantart.net/images/large/stockart/animals/Wolf_Skull_1.jpg
(Wolf Skull. Note the molars are sharp and designed to rip and tear meat. Signature of a carnivore.)

http://sibar.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/sm-130-lg.jpg
(Dog Skull. Again, note that the molars are sharp and designed to rip and tear meat. Signature of a carnivore.)

http://www.educationalbiofacts.com/images/Alaska%20Grizzly%20Bear%20Skull.jpg
(Bear Skull. Note that the molars are more blunt and capable of chewing vegetation. Signature of an omnivore.)

Darksong~

GardenersCardiff answers:

Mozzarella and Tomato – This simple sandwich is a cinch to make and pack. Prepare it the night before and give the flavors a chance to mingle.

Tuna Salad – Our tuna salad recipe is sure to be your child’s new favorite sandwich stuffing.

Chicken and Fruit Salad – With chunk white-meat chicken and sweet fruit, this sandwich filler will be a lunchtime favorite.

Turkey-Meatball Pitas – Lean turkey and an easy-to-handle pita make this healthy sandwich fun to eat.

Ham and Cheese Pitas – Update the classic sandwich by swapping out bread for crisp pita.

Turkey-Melon Wraps – You’ll love the sweet cantaloupe that transforms a typical turkey sandwich.

Garden Turkey Sandwich with Lemon Mayo – Liven up a traditional turkey sandwich and create a lunch you’ll love.

Falafel Sandwiches – This fun-to-eat sandwich is easily made, packed, and enjoyed.

Healthy Makeover Meatloaf – Use leftovers from this double-duty recipe to create a kid-friendly sandwich.

Baked Honey-Lime Drumsticks – With this recipe, it’s easy to make you feel extra-special at lunchtime.

Fish and Chips – This lightened-up version will give you a favorite meal with less fat.

Mini Corn Dogs – This lunchtime munchie scores extra credit for its healthy update.