Dog Decoys

While it is still freezing outside and many of us are dealing with snow, it is good to start thinking about Spring time. Planning our garden projects and imagining how beautiful our plantings will be somehow helps us escape the cold, dreary days of Winter. Creating a plan for this year’s pruning, planting, and applying fertilizers is a great way to stay on top of our landscaping and gardening tasks.  If last year it felt like your landscaping and gardening just didn’t get done, or it felt like a chore, make this year different.  Plan it! Schedule it! And remember the real reason for all those plants and trees…it is to enjoy them!  So get your calendar out and start making notes of different tasks you will need to do.  Spring pruning…mark it on the calendar.  Planting…mark it on the calendar!  If last year’s efforts took days to do, consider hosting a planting party.  Invite over friends and family to help with planting or weeding, followed up with a barbeque or a nice out

Deer can actually do more permanent damage to your landscaping in the Winter than they do in the Summer. Deer can actually do more permanent damage to your landscaping in the Winter than they do in the Summer. In the Summer, the deer tend to go after plants in the Spring and Summer months. And while that can ruin the plant for the season, the plants, if perennials, normally grow back again the next season. Or, you can replace them fairly inexpensively. Trees, on the other hand can be very costly if they are damaged by deer. Arborvitae trees especially can be completely eaten away as far up on the tree as the deer can eat. Arborvitae trees are often planted in multiples and in a straight line used for privacy because of their dense year-around green growth from the ground to the top of the tree. These trees are especially tasty for urban deer where other food sources are scarce. If the deer eat away all of the growth from the tree, it can leave an unsightly tree and it is

The geese and deer love fresh sod.  Its like you just rolled out a salad for them.  Deer sometimes like to dig their How to protect Sod and Seed from Wildlife SOD Freshly laid sod is beautiful.  The time and effort to prep the underlying soil, and then rolling out the sod gives us instant gratification of a lush green lawn.  Sure...sometimes you can see the seam lines, but you know soon enough that the grass will grow down into the land soil and provide a beautiful grass area for years to come.  The geese and deer love fresh sod.  Its like you just rolled out a salad for them.  Deer sometimes like to dig their hooves into the soft soil. Deer have also been seen rubbing their head on new sod. To keep the geese and deer away from your sod project, place a moving Dog Decoy from Watch Dog Goose Patrol in the area of your sod project and the wildlife will stay away.   SEED Fresh seeded grass on a bare black dirt area still feels like a gamble.  You took the time to prep th

Sounds of geese flying overhead is a sure sign of the approaching Fall season. It is a time when the geese start flocking up again after a Summer season of raising their young gosslings in smaller family groups. As the geese start to come together in flocks to prepare for their Fall migration many properties can be visited by hundreds and sometimes thousands of geese at a time.  With each goose leaving 1 - 3 lbs. of poop everyday, many properties can become unusable after a few short days of geese on it.  Large open grassy areas, such as high school football fields, college athletic fields, parks, and school playgrounds can be a very attractive congregating place for these large flocks of geese.   In preparation for the long migration to warmer Southern climates, the geese are now practicing their famous 'V' formations.  Between mid-August and mid-September, you will see the flocks of geese start out with maybe two families merging together and have 6-12 geese to pr

How to discourage resident geese. More and more Canadian Geese are taking up residence in one area and have given up on migrating South each Winter. More and more Canadian Geese are taking up residence in one area and have given up on migrating South each Winter.  Why?  Did they get tired of the overcrowded Winter goose population down there? Bad drivers? Too many tourists? Tired of the routine of the long haul down there, only to turn around and fly back a few months later? There are many theories on why the geese are becoming 'resident geese' meaning that they stay in one area all year around, rather than migrating.  Migrating is a genetic trait that the Canada geese are known for.  Their large 'V' flocks flying high overhead in the Fall is a common sight.  Typical Canada Goose Calendar Spring:  Fly North in flocks.  These flocks can consist of a dozen geese to upwards of a hundred geese all in the V formation.  The purpose to go North is to find a m