cat deterrants

I am being plagued by cats just now. One week after finishing by raised beds in readiness for my bulbs coming up they are being used nightly by a cat or cats. One of my snowdrops was destroyed last night by being dug up and the brown stuff being deposited on it.

What really works? I have been told to rig up an electric fence as used for cattle attached to sheep wire layed on the surface. Have you ever tried it?

Spread out some chicken wire on top of the bed. The bulbs will grow through it and the cats won't be able to dig in it. You can cover it with mulch and you won't even be able to tell it's there.

Won't work unless the wire is absolutely off the ground and insulated. Ernie

Canines usta work. ;~)

TC...

if you don't have severe cold you could rig up one of those motion sensor sprinklers.

Also if you get your own cat, they usually run the other off. Of course, you will still have the same problem......LOL.

Or you could get a dog. They may not get to every cat but they WILL eat all the cat poop!

Mobi

But if you get a female cat, all the boys will come around! Mobi, yuck!!! :) I have another deterent but y'all probably don't want to hear it. :) Do you know who owns the cats or are they strays? You could call up animal control and ask them what you should do. Good luck. Cats in a garden are very destructive.

I have one outdoor cat and occasionally she'll pull up a plant or roll around in the catmint, but other than that she's usually not to destructive. However my MIL hates cats and every neighborhood cat uses her garden.... It's like they know..... She has tried everything, even cat traps, but all she got was a cat that sprayed it. LOL. If you can get cocoa hull mulch, I hear it works.

As for dogs eating cat poop, it's even worse when they come in and start licking your face. Now that's yucky!!!!
Mobi

When my cats were first acting as if the gardens were there personal playground. I read somewhere that cats do not like the scent of oranges, lemons, and limes. I purchased some spray that was natural citrus and used it by spraying the ground around and over my plants. It seemed to do the trick and kept them from using the beds as their kitty litter. I think probably you could use the artificial scents also, I can attest to mine not liking that scent at all. I don't know if it would work for you or not but it might be worth the price of a spray can. I did try to be careful not to spray it directly on the plants, I am sure I got some on them, but it didn't seem to hurt them.

I have two cats... the only time I have much trouble with them digging in the garden beds to do their duty... is when there is freshly dug, loose soil exposed. They don't seem to bother with the gardens that are well established. They like the nice fluffy, freshly ammended soil.

Just let your garden go to weeds Mark, and they won't bother you anymore ;o)

Another tip I heard about was to use a bunch of plastic picnic forks stuck in the ground, tines up.

TC...

Land mines? Oh they already did that for you. LOL
Mobi

They hate pinecones, because they are sharp and they cannot dig.. try placing them in the bed as mulch, you will need lots of them. I even put them around my trees.

Poppysue I should have put down the wire before I mulched it last weekend. I'll have to do it next year.

I would like to get a dog but he/she would run over the beds to get the cat.

Try mothballs. They hate the scent. Scatter liberally around the beds. Cats get in the habit of using one place.If you can change their inclination to use your beds for awhile,they will find somewhere else and get in the habit of going there...maybe at their own house perhaps???

carpet grips have now been placed on top of my fences and under the gate where they gain access.

Mark, "carpet grips"?

TC...

I think Mark means "tackless strips" tc. They are the strips of lath with a short nail driven through them to protrude from the other side. Used to fasten the edges of wall to wall carpet without using carpet tacks thus "tackless".
As for your problem Mark, I suggest getting a cat of your very own. treat the cat like royalty and he or she will quickly teach you all of the things that are truly important to living a full, rich life.

If that's what Mark is refering to kikisdad, then I understand what it is.
Thanx!

TC...

I read somewhere to use rose bush clippings with the nice sharp thorns on them. I bet it keeps more than cats away!!

they are laths of wood with rows of short nails like sharks teeth set at an angle.

No roses in my garden. I'll also be putting down some sort of an acid that irritates their noses. My new jobs sells it.

Thanx for the explanation Mark, and good luck!

TC...

Just don't lean on the fence whilst passing the time of day with your neighbor -- ouch!