Hi, I'm Jessie, the world's best Kerry Blue Gardener. My owner, Jane, assists me, or rather, hampers my efforts to add interest to my yard.

Here I am with my ball. Every Kerry needs a couple of balls. They are great for flattening overly ambitious flower beds, and providing motivation for digging mulch out from under decks.

My owner sometimes makes me wear this stupid bandana. I try to kill it, but something TIED around your NECK, STRANGLING you, is very hard to kill!

When I first arrived here, the yard was very boring. If you are suffering from that dull green expanse of grass, all one texture, all one height, I have a few recomendations.

• pee in small circular spots in the center of yard to create pleasing yellow patterns
• pull up patches of grass by the root -- what doesn't provide space for a nice dandylion will create great mud in spring and fall
• to create the best patches of brown earth, with that rugged natural look, try digging

A few words about decks:

• Great places to pee -- your people really won't mind. Infact, it pleases them.
• Decks were intended to be used for greater height to bark when a human mows the lawn. If you can get off the deck, make sure to kill the lawn mower. They are very dangerous and should be destroyed.
• Decks always have wonderful expanses of dirt underneath them, particularly useful after a bath to get back that great earthy ordor that is so important for a Kerry Blue

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Eating   the   Garden

Finally, a few words about eating the garden. The true purpose of the garden is to provide a fresh array of food all summer long. Here are some of my favorites:

Roses: Try the fresh young growth in the spring. Just make sure to leave a little green or the rose might not continue producing the delicious shoots. In the winter the rosehips are wonderful yanked right off the dormat rose. Becareful not to close your mouth on the thorns.

Freshly planted perennials: These are always wonderful for a chew. If they taste a little odd, just dig them out. Think of the joy your humans will experience when they get the fun of replanting them!

Hostas: Do not swallow the leaves. These are to be stripped off the stem, chewed, then spat. Very refreshing.

Just use your imagination! Try violets, tulips, and daylilies, all delicious and easy on the stomach.

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Links

Great Gardening Books

If you are new to gardening, or just love to read about it like I do, here are my selections:

A good basic book to get you started is Barbara Damrosch's The Garden Primer

You might also want to check out Patrick Taylor's Gardening with Roses -- a great book on the subject, despite the fact he doesn't go into eating roses, and which flowers seem to melt in the mouth, which just sit there. But, after all, he's only human, not a Kerry Blue Terrier.

Finally, a great coffee table book for the summer heat blues is Rosemary Verey's The Garden in Winter Ah, how I miss the snow, the mud, the cold feet on a clean carpet.