Cats make wonderful companions, but they can do considerable damage to gardens and flowerbeds as pets. Cats frequently use plants pots as outdoor litter boxes and use them for soft sleeping spots.
There are a few effective techniques that will keep cats away from your flower garden. While some require some effort and time investment, they will help safeguard your blooms.
Covering Your Flower Beds With Mesh Cloth
Gardeners have discovered that covering their flower beds with mesh cloth is an effective way to keep cats away while still providing enough sunlight for their plants. Sticks and branches may help make walking difficult for cats while objects like spiked rocks, sagebrush or brambles buried into the soil can deter cats from wandering into the garden. Scattering citrus peels, mothballs or coffee grounds around their beds’ perimeter may further discourage cats from coming near.
Spray-on cat repellents may be effective at deterring cats from your garden, though if used improperly they could become harmful to cats. Another solution would be training your pet not to visit, though this requires consistent effort over time and patience. As an alternative solution try natural methods such as scent barriers, cat fences and motion activated sprinklers which can create surprise for unwanted felines that sends them fleeing from the area.
Place a Scarecrow
Scarecrows have long been used as an effective and cost-efficient deterrent against cats in flower gardens and vegetable patches, providing essential protection from felines. Scarecrows make excellent yard ornaments that serve this function perfectly while adding some flair to any yard or garden!
Begin by gathering materials for your scarecrow’s frame, such as wood boards or an upcycled wooden pallet. After gathering materials for its structure, search through your closet and thrift store for clothing to use in dressing your scarecrow. Add accessories like sunglasses and wigs for more realism!
Your scarecrow can also be customized with elements to deter birds, like mothballs or fragrant herbs and spices. Shiny objects like aluminum pie pans or strips of plastic will reflect sunlight away from it and prevent birds from approaching it directly. Furthermore, add accessories that flash or clank when the wind blows – such as tin foil wind chimes bells and spoons for further effect.
Cat Repellent Spray
Cats can be beneficial in keeping pests, such as rabbits and moles away, while at the same time damaging your flowers with digging or leaving unintended deposits behind. Safe odor-based deterrents, natural cat barriers or other methods may help deter cats from coming near flower beds.
Orange peels, essential oils or fabric softener sheets can all help make the area smell less appetizing to cats if used regularly – although this requires multiple applications over time to change cats’ habits.
Certain plants, like Russian sage and lavender as well as thyme, geranium and tropical grevillea have strong scents that repel cats. Motion activated sprinklers with ultrasonic sound can also help. Other visual obstacles like tying unwanted CDs on twine or placing up mesh bird feeders may help.
Motion-Activated Sprinklers
Cats are beneficial to gardens in that they prevent other pests from invading, but they can be destructive to flowerbeds by digging or using them as soft napping spots, chewing up and eating the flowers, or simply digging.
If training your cat to avoid your garden has failed, try creating physical barriers instead. Chicken wire or netting may work to block off flower beds while there are devices which emit an ultrasonic sound that cats do not enjoy hearing.
Motion-activated sprinklers can also help keep unwanted felines at bay in your garden. These devices detect when cats come near, and then spray it with water, startling it. Cats typically dislike water, so this strategy could deter unwanted felines. You could also try placing citrus peels around flower beds or using lemon-scented sprays as deterrents; alternatively you could try placing lavender, lemon thyme, rue or pennyroyal herb beds to repel cats from entering.