Cats roaming freely around flower gardens can be an annoying annoyance for gardeners. Whether they belong to you or your neighbors, you can use various strategies to keep these felines away from your precious plants.
Substituting rough surfaces, unpleasant scents and other safe repellents with rough textures for your garden’s entrance will prevent cats from accessing it.
Mesh Cloth
Cats may be adorable creatures, but they can be a nuisance in the garden by digging up flowers and turning the space into their personal litter box. To keep cats away from your flower gardens without harming them, try one of these safe odor and physical deterrents or barriers.
As an example, you could lay plastic fencing or chicken wire over the soil to form a barrier that’s difficult for cats to get through. Another effective product called CatScat mat features long, flexible plastic spikes that will annoy but won’t harm cats.
Use citrus peels to deter mosquitos naturally by scattering them across the ground; their scent will deter mosquitos. Unfortunately, this method can also attract flies and other bugs while becoming messy over time – not to mention having to replace these peels frequently as their potency quickly declines.
Scarecrow
Many gardeners find a scarecrow an effective means of discouraging cats or other animals from visiting or urinating in their flower bed. Scarecrows can be quickly made at low cost and with surprising effectiveness; simply move them around regularly for maximum effectiveness; they won’t work if left positioned at their original positions.
Sprinkler repellents may also help prevent unwanted cats, but their effectiveness depends on them coming close enough to activate it. The device uses motion sensor technology to detect animal and bird movement before unleashing an unexpected burst of water with noise and movement to discourage pests.
It can also deter possums, rabbits, wallabies and other small mammals such as wallabies. Easy to switch off so as to prevent accidental sprinkler deployment during gardening and only requires two alkaline batteries (not included) this device covers 100 square meters but can be daisy-chained together to cover larger areas.
Scents
Gardeners sometimes blame unwelcome cat behavior on wild animals, when in truth cats often dig up flowerbeds in search of insects to hunt down and devour. By adding scents known to repel cats or creating physical barriers that block access to your plants, gardeners can deter their feline friends from disturbing your garden without harming either themselves or their plants.
Alley Cat Allies recommends using citrus scents to deter cats. Citrus scents are unappetizing to felines, so scattering orange or lemon peels or spraying citrus-scented products around your flowers may help deter cats. Other natural deterrents may include coffee grounds, mothballs, vinegar or even eucalyptus oil as a deterrent.
Plants cats don’t like, such as rosemary, lavender and pennyroyal can also deter them from digging up your flowers – these include rosemary, lavender and pennyroyal. A barrier made of chicken wire or netting may help prevent cats from reaching your beds; you could also place pine cones or prickly branches along the edges to deter cats. You may also try commercial cat repellent sprays available but make sure they’re safe to use near flowers before applying; most work by emitting an unpleasant scent or emitting noise that scares cats away.
Training
Cats may find flower gardens and vegetable patches irresistible, but you don’t have to give in to their destructive tendencies. Physical deterrents are an effective way to keep cats away from flower beds and protect your plants from digging up!
Pointy sticks or mothballs will help deter cats from entering your garden, while aluminum foil, citrus peels, and Scaredy Cat Coleus (Coleus canina) plants can all act to deter their entrance without harming either cats or your flowers.
A toy water pistol can be used to spray cats with water, making them uncomfortable and discouraging them from approaching an area. While this technique is effective, it requires dedication and patience in order for it to work effectively; to maximize protection of your garden against unwanted cats it should be combined with other tactics.