Simple Solutions to Soggy Lawns & Muddy Paws
We love our dogs and doting on our furry companions is a favorite pastime. But come the rainy season, aka the muddy season, maintaining a beautiful landscape and keeping the outdoors, well, outdoors, can be a bit challenging with a dog of any size. Is it even possible to keep a beautiful landscape with a dog?
We get this question often and the answer is always yes!
Here are our top tips and landscape solutions for preventing a mud pit in your dog-friendly backyard.
Create a no-lawn yard or no-lawn zones.
Going lawn-free is more popular than you might think and offers lots of great design options. There is a multitude of materials you can use to create stunning hardscapes that provide both aesthetic and functional appeal, with the added benefit of being relatively low-maintenance and pet-friendly.
- River rock and loose stone
- Compacted gravel or decomposed granite
- Architectural slabs
- Poured concrete
- Pavers
- Natural stone slabs
- Wood
If you are not ready to give up the green entirely, consider adding pavers or stepping stones to the high traffic areas of your lawn. Low walls, raised beds and gates are also effective ways to cordon off sections of your yard and create different zones or outdoor rooms for lawns, people, and pets.
Replace your lawn with synthetic turf.
Today’s synthetic grass alternatives have come a long way from the Astro-turf of yesteryear. There is a wide range of options to give you the natural look and feel you want and most are well-suited to a doggy lifestyle. Synthetic turf is low-maintenance, requiring no watering, fertilizing, or mowing, and is designed with drainage in mind, so you can say goodbye to the soggy lawn for good.
Before you decide to go this route, give us a call and let our experts help you with the design, materials selection, and installation for a trouble-free synthetic lawn.
Amend your lawn. If artificial turf is just not your thing, you can still have a relatively mud-free lawn with the right grass, care, and maintenance. Amending your soil can also help with drainage and the overall health of your lawn. We have brought many lawns back from the brink, so contact us if you want to learn more about our lawn care services.
Install a dog wash station. Why drag Fido or Fifi to the groomers for a bath when you can wash them in the comfort of their own backyard? From the basic (garden hose and kiddie pool) to the fully-built outdoor doggy spa (tiled shower with temperature-controlled water), we have seen it all. The most important thing is to create a convenient and safe place to quickly get your dog clean–and dried off–before they come into the house.
Provide shelter. One of the hottest trends in outdoor design is the covered back patio. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we can understand why. Sure, a covered patio is lovely to look at, and is great for creating an inviting outdoor room, but when we’re talking about dogs and rain and muddy yards, the covered patio is a necessity! Providing a sheltered dry area next to your back door, or the door your pooch uses most often, gives your pup a place to shake off before coming inside.
We have a team of creative designers at Landscape East & West who love digging into pet projects and coming up with solutions to transform muddy yards into dream landscapes for both pooch and owner. Contact us today and start exploring what we can do for your yard.
