Cat Deterrents for your Garden: Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), what works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. Birds aren't stupid, they watch for cats and stay away. Sometimes natural law comes into play and the quicker animal wins, it's natural law. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'. * amonia soaked (corncobs, etc) * aluminum foil * bamboo skewers * black pepper * blood meal fertilizer * bramble cuttings * Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp * catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards) * cedar compost * chicken wire (metal or plastic) * cinnamon * citrus peels * citrus spray * cocoa bean shells * coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!) * dogs * electric fence for animals * essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils) * fresh manure(ditto) * garlic cloves * gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree * gutter covers * hardware cloth * heavy bark mulch * holly leaves * keep the area damp, they like dry soil * lavender * liquid manure (good for your garden too) * motion sensor sprinkler * pennyroyal * pinecones * pipe tobacco * plastic forks * predator urine * red wine vinegar * river rocks over the exposed soil * rocks, crushed * rose bush clippings * rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only) Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler (do a froogle.com search or www.safepetproducts.com) Shake-Away Domestic Cat Repellent Urine Powder (do a froogle.com search or www.safepetproducts.com) * short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart * six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up) * Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water * squirt gun with water * talk to your neighbors * tansy * thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings * toothpicks * upside down vinyl carpet * vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam * water bottle on "stream" NOT RECOMMENDED: *** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me. *** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way. Give them their own areas: (To keep them out of where you don't want them) (If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters) + pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later. + give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason) + if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too. + Barley Grass + Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store + Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade + Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.) + Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to. + Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum) + Flax + Oat Grass + Jacob's Ladder + Lemon Grass + Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch + Mints + Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out. + Sandy area + Silver vine (Actinidia polygama) + Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive) + Sweet grass + Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass) + Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips) + Wheat Grass + Wheat Berries + Valerian As a gardener, grow your indoor cat some catgrass and catnip. They're healthy alternatives for your houseplants and they'll much prefer them. Change the litter to something they prefer. If you don't clean it out everyday, consider it. Cat's appreciate a clean, comfortable place to go just as much as humans do. This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violetgw@care2.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

Use seed, You must remove the seed from the flesh , soak overnight and clean the seed - wash all flesh off, always use the freshest seed you can get. I have had varied results but always get some up - just plant in pots in standard new potting mix, a little apart but as many as you like in the pot. When they germinate wait until there are at least for leaves then gently squeeze the pot and carefully ease the plants out and pot into their own small deep container. Do not tip out the pot as there may be more still to germinate. Germination should take from less than a month to 3,4 months or more it depends on the temp.

Thought I would add our experience. In the week after Xmas 2010 ( temperatures in high 30s for the whole week) we decided to try and transplant 8 lilly pilly trees with trunks approx. 8 - 10cm thick, which had been kept pruned to about 2 metres in height and not sure of age. We didnt care if we ended up buying new plants but thought we would give it a go. We haphazardly pruned the trees back hard( one ended up with no leaves at all). We use a pick axe to dig a circle ( trench) out about 30cm all round from each trunk, soaked the soil with water and then used a pruning hack saw, pushing it down into the trench where ever we felt there was a thick root still holding on, then rocked tree back and forward until all roots snapped. The roots ended up shredded and totally bare of soil. The area we were moving them to was very dry with clay about 15cm down. We roughly broke up the clay in a circle just larger than the roots and added the only soil we had which was a sandy loam and some wetting crystals. We then stood the lilly pilly roots ontop of this and then mounded more sandy loam over the roots where ever they lay. We knew this would dry out too quickly so we used broken bark pieces (unused from wood pile) and piled this all over the sandy loam mound ( theory was to try and shade the sandy stuff). We installed a drip water system with a drip at base of each trunk ( We flatten the mound around the base of the trunk and pulled back the bark so water wouldnt just run straight off top of bark and down sides of mound). We watered the trees whenever we watered the vegies and every second day I sprayed the outside of the bark mounds ( theory - to keep them moist? ). We transplaned two murrayas ( spelling ?) at the same time in the same way. We decided to keep treating them like live plants until THEY showed us they were dead. Now... 1 month later, with more temps of over mid thirties ( even 40s) ALL of the plants have began showing new shoots up the branches with two even beginning to fruit again. The Murrayas showed new shoots within the first two weeks even though they were taken out last when we were totally fed up with trying to be NICE to the plants. As you can see... We didnt know what we were doing.. had no advice... and were not gentle. These trees just seem to live on and on. to anyone thinking about transplanting lilly pillies.. give it a go,.. you have nothing to lose.

Well I just thought I would try something different. This was just to keep them off of one or two roses which were setting up for a great flush. They will always find something to eat. Here they have also been eating a lot of my service berry leaves, Siberian crabapple & my city street tree, which is a linden. Good luck spreading JB carcass water on larger trees & shrubs, haha! I don't give one iota for fragrance in roses, I go for the appearance & hardiness. But I have found they are selective with the roses. They don't bother with Julia Child (weird cause it's yellow) or Benjamin Britten but a Bull's Eye planted between the two had JB's on it. Someone else mentioned that they liked 4 o'clocks & it poisons them. I don't know about the poison part but they definitely like to eat them. They went after my yellow ones only though. Anyways, the JB juice may be a solution for those few roses that get hit hard in my garden. It seems that there are less of them this week, than last. So if nothing further, I will try again next year during the peak times.