There are various techniques you can employ to keep cats away from your flower garden, from physical barriers and scent deterrence techniques, to simply leaving it alone altogether.
Spray your flowers with scents that cats find offensive, such as citrus peels or mothballs, to dissuade them. Some people also find motion-activated sprinklers effective at discouraging cats from attacking.
Physical Barriers
Cats can destroy your garden by digging in the soil, using it as a soft napping spot and chewing up the plants. Physical barriers like fences and netting can deter cats from entering your garden; you can also cover plant pots and urns with strips of masking tape or duct tape to deter cats from jumping up onto them to look inside, which is an inexpensive and nontoxic solution that won’t harm any plants in any way.
Spikes designed to prevent other animals from climbing fences or buildings can also help deter cats from trying to climb them. There is an assortment of these spikes available, such as ones designed for foxes, squirrels and birds as well as ones specifically created to discourage cat climbing attempts.
Moth Balls
Petfinder suggests physical deterrents can prevent cats from damaging flower beds by making it harder for them to enter the garden, and in doing so deter their behavior and prevent damage caused by their urine-saturated litter boxes. Physical barriers make entry more difficult.
By placing rough surfaces such as pine cones, prickly hedges and pointy sticks on the ground or around an area, rough surfaces like these may make walking uncomfortable for cats causing them to seek other areas of their yard in which to go.
There are also natural scents that deter cats. Rue can be planted live and its scent has been said to repel cats. Also effective are citrus peels (which cats don’t seem to like), coffee grounds, pipe tobacco and cayenne pepper which can all be sprinkled or spread onto surfaces of soil to protect gardens or flowerbeds from cats scurrying about. Some of these items are toxic for cats if consumed – best results come when multiple methods such as scent and physical deterrents are combined together as this deters cats from staying away.
Water
Cats don’t like being wet, so when they wander into your garden they will typically avoid areas with wet flowers. A water gun is an effective way to deter cats, without harming any flowers in the process. Or use motion-activated sprinklers which stay off most of the time but only spray when movement is detected – both will work fine!
Fencing, shrubs and other obstacles will help deter cats from accessing your flower garden, as will planting prickly plants such as holly or berberis according to the RSPB. A plastic mesh mat known as Cat Scat Mat can also help deter them with 3/4″ spikes which can be spread over its surface area for extra effect.
Other deterrents can help, including plants that repel cats, herbs and scents that discourage cats from defecating in your garden and electronic deterrents that give mild shocks without harming cats. With some creativity and foresight, you can build an imprenetrable barrier around your flowers that cats won’t get past to enjoy your flowers.
Spraying
Unwanted cats lingering around your flowerbeds can be an annoying distraction, but there are ways you can keep them at bay. Physical barriers and planting cat-repelling herbs and flowers may help, while spraying water onto surfaces near where cats may gather can also work as deterrents against cat visits.
Finally, there are products designed specifically to ward off cats from your flower garden, including sprays with natural ingredients that create unpleasant odors for cats to sniff at. This may be an effective alternative if you don’t wish to use anything that might harm or poison your plants.
Place items in your flower bed that will make it smell unpleasant to cats, such as citrus peels or scented candles, which may deter their presence but may not be as effective as other methods.