One of my most pressing reasons to garden in containers is to keep out critters.

In my case, the critters include Jack (top right), a 90-pound shepherd husky mix who likes to keep busy, and his sidekick in crime, a 65-pound girl named Sparky who’s part border collie, part spaniel and lord knows what else. Between the two of them, they have dug up and dragged to death six dahlias, three fledgling raspberries, four tomato seedlings and five crocuses.

Let’s face it, dogs and gardens don’t mix. Dogs love to dig. Dogs, especially those with a hunting or working pedigree, love to carry things around, whether it’s your slippers or your daughter’s favorite stuffed penguin or a couple of tomato plants in bloom.

I tried fencing in the young plants, but it’s an ugly solution. And unless it’s very sturdy, fencing won’t keep out a large dog. I discovered that when I found Sparky dozing atop my irises, surrounded by collapsed chicken wire.

So, I grow whatever I can in containers. My dogs are big enough to drag plants out of containers (or even drag the containers around), but putting the containers off the ground, even just a foot or two, discourages this behavior. Which is why so much of my patio garden is vertical. I use hanging baskets, window boxes, and pots set on old picnic benches.

As a side benefit, growing my basil in window boxes discourages the rabbits as well. That, in turn, is good for the rabbits. While they might miss a nice snack, they also don’t become a late night snack for Jack, an avid hunter.

Growing plants in pots can also discourage many (if not all) of the neighborhood cats from using your garden as a kitty toilet. It helps fend off slugs. If you’re growing berries in containers, it’s easy to put netting over the plants (or even move the pots) so the birds don’t get all the berries before you have a chance to taste them.

Now, if I could just find raspberries that grow well in containers…

Many experts will tell you to use potting soil, plain or with a bit of fertilizer. Potting soil has many advantages. It drains well. It’s sterile and free of weed seeds and diseases. It’s lightweight, relatively speaking.

But potting soil bothers me precisely because it’s sterile. I mean, is dirt really supposed to be clean? To me, putting plants in sterile soil is a bit like putting animals in the zoo. Yes, they’re safe and well cared for, but they’re not in their natural habitat.

I do use potting soil in my outdoor container garden, but I mix it with real garden dirt and compost. Somehow it just seems more natural. Garden soil and compost are full of beneficial bacteria and other plant goodies.

Yes, I do get some weeds, but really, how hard is it to yank weeds from a potted plant? I haven’t noticed that the plants in real dirt suffer any more diseases than those in potting soil. If anything, they seem more robust.

For indoor plants, I do skip the garden soil because I don’t want insects in my house. I use potting soil, with a little bit of bagged compost.