Staying ahead of a stray cat’s desire to tear apart your flower garden can be challenging. There are various methods available for keeping cats away, including spreading prickly holly leaves or sharp sticks throughout your bedbed.
Plant varieties known to deter cats such as lavender, rue, geraniums and absinthe are another effective deterrent against cats. Water itself can also work effectively as cats aren’t fond of getting wet!
Tape
Cats can cause serious damage to flower beds by digging, scratching and using them as litter boxes. To stop them doing this, create physical barriers or use scent-deterring techniques like deterrence spray.
Making use of nontoxic tape as a barrier against cats is easy, cost-effective and hassle-free. By making tape balls from masking or duct tape and placing them around soil areas that you want to safeguard from cats – such as urns, window boxes or other areas you need protection for – creating “tape balls” can protect urns, window boxes and other areas from them jumping in unexpectedly. When cats try jumping into these areas the tape clings tightly to their fur making jumping less likely and eventually stopping altogether!
Hot pepper spray, with its spicy, unpleasant aroma for felines to smell, may also work to deter them. Or a motion-activated sprinkler spraying water onto a cat as they move into an area could make her uncomfortable and keep them away.
Moth Balls
Cats can be unwelcome visitors in any garden. From family pets to stray felines who come into your house unexpectedly, felines can cause havoc by digging through soil and using flowers as litter boxes. Luckily, there are various home remedies for keeping cats away from flower beds.
One simple approach is to place moth balls near areas you would like the cat to avoid, soaked with pesticides which will harm both cats and other animals, but may also annoy human neighbors nearby. Due to this tactic’s strong scent and potential discomfort for those nearby (particularly small children or animals), this method should not be chosen as it could exacerbate an already irritating odor.
Other methods involve using scents to dissuade cats. Saturating an area with spray containing garlic or other strong smelling substances is another effective strategy, either purchased from commercial vendors or created using ingredients from your kitchen pantry.
Mesh Cloth
Protecting your flowerbeds from feline visitors does not have to be an endless battle. There are multiple methods of keeping cats away, and most are simple, cost-effective, and humane – some require planning ahead while others can be implemented quickly without leaving your garden or touching your cat directly.
Covering flower beds with chicken wire can prevent cats from digging into the soil and protecting plants at once. Furthermore, this method keeps plants intact while still offering some form of protection for flowers.
Another effective method for deterring cats is spraying them with repellent that contains ingredients they dislike, such as citrus or lavender scents that will make the area unappetizing to them. While this approach is effective, you could end up wasting water should you forget to switch off sprinklers afterward.
Training
No matter if it’s your own cat or a neighborhood stray, cats can do serious damage to gardens and flowerbeds. Cats see them as giant outdoor litter boxes where they dig holes. There are various methods available to deter cats from your flowers: scent-based methods can work wonders; others make the area uncomfortable to walk in; still others physically deter cats from entering them.
Plants with strong or unpleasant scents may help deter cats, as can the presence of sharp objects in the soil, such as Coleus caninus with its pungent aroma that repels cats. You could also install physical barriers like chicken wire or lattice in your flowerbeds and cover them with mulch to discourage digging. With persistent training and rewards it may even be possible to train a cat not to enter flower gardens!