Cats make great companions, yet can easily destroy flower beds by digging and leaving deposits behind, using plants for soft sleeping spots, and chewing at their foliage. Unfortunately, however, protecting your flowers from cats doesn’t need to be a never-ending battle!
With just a few simple hacks, your flower garden can become inaccessible to cats and help prevent them from ruining the plants.
Cat Fence
Installing a cat-proof fence is the ideal way to stop cats from accessing your garden, according to iCat Care. At least six-foot high, it should prevent most agile cats from jumping over it and accessing it directly. Or build one that protrudes at right angles; cats would find climbing harder if they had to jump onto an uneven surface rather than jumping directly onto its horizontal section.
Ensuring that a tree or gap in a wooden garden gate overhanging your fence or an opening beneath its bottom edge does not become an escape route by “bonnetting”, is also effective. This involves using wire mesh like that used to protect fruit trees from birds horizontally under its lowest branches with at least 25mm (0.8in) thick netting that angles downwards – it may even be possible to bury this net so as to make it more challenging for cats to crawl beneath this obstacle.
Cat Repellent Spray
Cats may be adorable and even helpful pets, but they can quickly ruin a well-tended garden by digging holes to use as personal litter boxes. Although some products contain ingredients harmful to cats if swallowed, most do not harm flowers themselves and should be combined with other measures, such as wire fencing or motion activated sprinklers to deter your cats from damaging your plants.
Vinegar or citrus sprays may work effectively as nontoxic cat repellents; just be wary when applying these near certain vegetables or herbs as their use could potentially have unintended side-effects. Always test before applying anywhere near them!
Many people opt to train their cats to avoid specific areas, like flowerbeds. Doing this takes patience and consistency but can be an effective means of protecting your flowers from your feline’s attentions.
Objects with Strong Smells
Cats are predatory and territorial by nature, characteristics passed down from their wild ancestors. Removing any items attractive to a wildcat may help deter it from your garden; citrus peels scattered on the ground make an effective, natural, inexpensive deterrent that must be replenished frequently to maintain effectiveness.
Coffee grounds deter some cats by emitting an unpleasant odor, while rough mulch such as coarse wood chips or jagged rock may make your garden less appealing to roaming cats, while thorny shrub clippings and pine cones may do the same.
Animal urine works as an effective deterrent, though its scent will dissipate in hot weather or when rain washes it away. A motion-activated sprinkler may be an efficient way to keep furry creatures at bay from your garden; however, this method won’t work well against groups of feral cats roaming nearby.
Mesh Cloth
Cats can be kept out of flower gardens with physical barriers like chicken wire or netting installed around them to keep cats out. Furthermore, such barriers also serve to keep away other animals such as mice.
If you need a more long-term solution, purchase mesh cloth from gardening stores – it has holes small enough for cats but large enough for plants to grow through.
An alternative approach is to scatter citrus peels across the soil surface in order to deter cats with their scent. Another product called the “Cat Scat Mat” features plastic mesh with 3/4″ spikes that you can lay out in order to scare them off.
The RSPB recommends diverting cats to areas in your garden that will welcome them, such as an outdoor litter box filled with fine-grained sand or Coleus Caninus which emits an unpleasant odor that repels cats and dogs alike. Furthermore, offering other spots within your yard such as shaded areas or play structures will encourage exploration by your cat(s).