Cheap Plant Supports and Keeping the Dogs Off My Plants

Dogs and gardening often do not mix. My two adopted dogs now weigh over 80 pounds and have no respect for my plants. They love to play chase when they are out of their fenced in area. They have no idea that the pretty soft green things they run over in their game are my pretty flowers and ornamental plants. I have tried everything from stakes (which they eat) to pepper spray (this works but I can't spray everything). Recently, I had a great idea that is working!

I took my tomato cages from last year - they are cheap and will be easy to replace this spring. I cut each one with a wire cutter right at the top of each ring. For a taller support like the one around the Buttercups below, leave two rings.

This created three nice rings with "legs" to poke into the ground. I put one around all the plants I wanted to protect. A bonus is these make nice supports for floppy plant too. So far, the dogs have avoided these and my Buttercups are not squashed and my Iris may actually bloom!