SunLive Competition

Passionate gardeners who are animal lovers can find it challenging to strike a balance between a lush, productive garden and a place that pets, children and other people can enjoy.

Cats and dogs love garden life and enjoy spending time with you while you toil away at the horticultural chores.

When it comes to sharing the garden with pets and the other animals that live there, careful choices need to be made about what to use to ensure faithful companions and their friends aren’t harmed.

Being more environmentally aware of the effects of garden products has numerous benefits to wildlife in the garden such as birds, as well as for pets. Vets often see animals and pets poisoned by chemicals and garden products from unaware gardeners.

A number of products are now available that are pet friendly, are safe to use in the garden and many are organic and/or chemical-free.

Fighting food fighters

Slugs and snails are food fighters. They hunt at night and soon make a mess of fresh salads crops, hostas and other soft-leafed plants. Tui Quash is New Zealand’s safest slug and snail bait. Quash has been a trusted product for years among garden and animal lovers and is safe to use throughout the garden.

Superb soil food sources

Fertiliser is the backbone to any garden. Choose an organic safe option such as Eco Fert to feed the plants. This stuff is a powerhouse of goodies that plants love and quickly respond too; soon your garden will reward you with lush growth and bumper crops. Compost and animal manure also add nutrients to the garden. Apply in thick layers every few months. If you don’t have access to farm manure or have a compost bin visit your garden centre and pick up super sheep pellets and bags of Tui Organic Compost, both are superb food sources for the soil and neither of smells.

Getting rid of bad bugs

Insects and bugs can be a real problem. The challenge once they arrive is getting rid of the bad bugs and keeping the good bugs. Some insects, such as ladybirds, are predators and they eat the bad bugs in the garden. Bees are important too as they pollinate flowers which help produce fruit and vegetables. Most chemical sprays kill all the insects in the area, good and bad. Eco Pest is a superb insect spray that only kills the bad bugs (such as aphids, scale and whitefly), leaving the good guys on the job to keep doing all the important jobs in the garden. It’s easy to use, effective, and ideal in a pet friendly garden.

Win: Go in the draw to win a pet friendly garden kit valued at $65, featuring 400g of Tui Quash, 500ml of Tui Eco-Pest and 100g of Tui Eco-Fert with SunLive. Entrants must be aged 18 years or over. To enter, you must be logged in, if you are new click here to register for free!

Competition Results

Robert Tyne
Katikati