An unwelcome visitor to your flower garden, cats can be an extreme nuisance. Not only can they cause serious soil disturbance by digging holes in it and leaving unapproved deposits, they are also notoriously destructive as they tear up flowers with their claws as well as nibbling at leaves or breaking off branches with their teeth!
There are various strategies you can employ to keep cats away from your flower garden, including using chicken wire and motion-activated sprinklers as deterrents, as well as scents cats do not enjoy such as citrus or lavender that act as deterrents.
Cover your flower beds with mesh cloth
Your garden should be an idyllic space full of beautiful blooms and nutritious produce – you don’t want it ravaged by cats using it as their litter box! There are a number of methods for deterring cats from visiting, without harming or making their environment uninhabitable for them.
Effective techniques typically combine multiple tactics into an impenetrable barrier that’s hard for intruders to breach, such as noise deterrents, objects with strong scents (like coffee grounds or citrus peel), or repellent sprays designed specifically to repel them.
Covering your flower garden in mesh cloth is another effective way of deterring cats from accessing it, providing another easy-to-implement option without fences. Hot pepper spray may also work effectively as a deterrent against felines.
Install a cat fence
Physical barriers like chicken wire or netting can deter cats from entering your flower garden. Just place these barriers around the flower bed so they are tall enough for plants to grow underneath them, or consider using “scat mats”, plastic mats covered with spikes that make walking over them uncomfortable for cats.
Scarecrows can also be useful, when filled with items that make the area smell unpleasant for cats such as citrus peels and essential oils, it can act as an effective deterrent, with minimal setup or maintenance requirements required for effective use. Note, however, that these methods may not work if other elements such as food sources or water sources draw cats into flower beds and cause them to stay. In such cases it’s essential to identify what attracts cats in order to stop this behavior from recurring.
Use motion-activated sprinklers
There are various strategies available to you when it comes to keeping cats away from your flowerbeds. Some methods are more successful than others, including noise deterrents, spraying the area with repellent or placing scent-deterring materials around your garden. You could also plant herbs or flowers known for deterring cats such as geraniums, chrysanthemums and marigolds or using bird netting to block cat access to them.
Another effective strategy for keeping cats out of your garden is installing chicken wire. This makes the area uncomfortable for cats to walk through and can prevent them from damaging plants; additionally, installation is easy and doesn’t look like an intimidating barrier at all! For added deterrence of cats entering, try placing a scarecrow that acts as an intimidating presence and fill it with items scented to deter cats even further!
Train your cat to stay away
Feline companions may be adorable, but their digging can wreak havoc on gardens by leaving unwelcome deposits behind. Luckily, there are humane ways to deter cats from accessing your flowers: such as installing a cat fence, covering it with mesh cloth or motion activated sprinklers, planting smelly herbs and flowers and spraying plants with cat repellent spray.
Water pistols may also work to scare away cats; this method is inexpensive and doesn’t need constant reapplication if used close enough to scare away. However, this only works if your cat is within striking range to be terrified away by this shock tactic.
Some people use the simple tactic of scattering ground black pepper or cayenne pepper into their flower beds to deter cats. This simple, cost-effective strategy works only if a cat steps on it; window boxes or small patches of flowers tend to benefit most from this strategy.