How to Plan a Pet-Safe Vegetable Garden
Which vegetables, herbs, and flowers to put where dogs and cats roam, which to fence off, and simple layout rules, using the ASPCA plant list.
Published by ThriveThyme
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How to Plan a Pet-Safe Vegetable Garden
Start by sorting your crop list into three groups using the ASPCA plant list. The Pet-Safe Garden Finder does this for every crop in My Garden.
1. Open Beds: Crops Listed as Non-Toxic
These can go where pets walk. ASPCA lists them as non-toxic to dogs and cats:
- Vegetables: carrot, cucumber, zucchini, acorn squash and pumpkin, butternut squash, beets and Swiss chard, sweet potato, cantaloupe
- Herbs: basil, thyme, rosemary, sage, dill, cilantro
- Flowers: zinnia, snapdragon, nasturtium, bachelor's button, hollyhock
- Fruit: strawberry
2. Fenced or Raised Beds: Crops Listed as Toxic
Grow these where pets cannot reach:
- Onion family: onion, garlic, leek, chives
- Tomato vines and leaves (ripe fruit is non-toxic per ASPCA)
- Herbs: mint, oregano, marjoram, tarragon, parsley
- Flowers: morning glory, dianthus
- Fruit: apple and peach leaves and seeds, fig sap, and grapes for dogs (ASPCA People Foods)
3. Not on the List: Your Call
Lettuce, spinach, peppers, eggplant, beans, peas, sweet corn, cabbage family crops, and watermelon have no ASPCA entry. Not listed is not a safe rating. If your pet grazes, treat them like group 2.
Layout Rules
- Put the toxic group in one fenced or raised block so one barrier covers it.
- Plant a non-toxic border, such as basil, thyme, or zinnia, along paths the pet uses.
- Pick up dropped fruit under apple, peach, and grape plants.
- Pull and bag spent tomato vines in fall. See the Garden to Bed checklist.
- Plan rotations with Bed History so the fenced block can move with the onion and tomato families.
If a pet eats a plant and you are worried, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. A fee may apply.