Local cats can quickly destroy your flower garden by digging up plants, scattering soil and using flower beds as litter boxes. Plus, they attract other pests like deer and rabbits that feed on it!
Combatting cats’ sense of smell is an effective strategy for keeping them out of your garden. Orange and lemon peels, rue herb, cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, pipe tobacco as well as oils such as lavender, eucalyptus and mustard could all work to do just that!
Physical Barriers
Cats are drawn to flowerbeds because they make an easy target for digging and creating litter boxes in your plants and flowerbeds. Physical barriers that discourage cats from entering is one way of keeping your flowers and flowerbeds looking their best; chicken wire and bristly materials, such as pine cones with spines that poke out or pebbles that create discomfort when walking on are effective barriers that keep cats at bay; this includes chicken wire as well as bristly materials like pine cones with spikes that can make walking on them uncomfortable or resist digging underneath.
scent repellants can also be an effective way to keep cats away from flower gardens. Ammonia is one of the more widely-used solutions, which you can sprinkle onto flower beds or place small jars filled with liquid within the garden. Or you could sprinkle peels from citrus fruit like lemons, oranges or grapefruit over your soil as an effective barrier.
Create another barrier by planting off-putting plants like perennial geraniums, roses or holly bushes on your soil surface – this may make it uncomfortable for cats to walk over it and will deter them from returning.
Cat-Repellent Plants
If your garden can’t be enclosed by fencing, planting flowers and herbs that deter cats might help. Lavender is known to repel cats due to the chemical linalool in its plant – an essential component found in insect repellants, it works especially well against felines. Roses also make good choices due to their prickly foliage being uncomfortable to walk over.
Russian Sage and Lavender, Rosemary Lemon Thyme, Chrysanthemums Geraniums and Common Rue are other flowers which can help deter cats. These plants emit unpleasant odors or have thorny leaves which repel cats – planting these alongside those which attract butterflies or bees is another effective strategy; use mulch or chicken wire on planting beds as another deterrent against cats using it as litter trays!
Water
Roaming cats pose a threat to gardeners as they dig, scatter soil and leave deposits of poop in flowerbeds. Furthermore, cats carry bacteria and parasites which could harm humans such as histoplasmosis, leptospirosis, ringworm, plague and rabies; additionally they kill songbirds and interfere with natural habitat.
Blocking access is the best way to keep cats out of your garden, using chicken wire fencing around beds as protection from digging, secured with “hairpins” made of wire coat hangers cut in half as extra large “hair pins”.
Tape
Tape can be an inexpensive and simple solution to keeping cats out of your flower garden. By strategically placing double-sided tape where a cat is likely to walk, a surprise and discomfort are created that forces them away from this area – as well as covering holes dug by cats trying to reach certain plants such as urns or window boxes.
Unpleasant scents can also help deter cats from entering your flower garden. Alley Cat Allies advises spraying it with citrus scent or vinegar – which can either be homemade or purchased commercially – or alternatively using eucalyptus oil, lavender oil or coffee grounds as repellents – this way preventing your cats from damaging flowers or plants with toxic sprays that harm cats individually.