Keeping Cats out of raised Beds

11 years ago

Anyone have a system that works ? They are my cats, so I don't want to shoot them. Only have problems when newly planted and soil is soft. Any repelent that works ?
I used to have it fenced, but its no good anymore.
Thanks

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Comments (7)

victory_tea2085
11 years ago
I just posted about a sprinkler system that is motion activated- might do what you want. Paul
IAmSupernova
11 years ago
Lay chicken wire down over the soil (generally cats hate to walk on this) OR give the cats their own bed and put things that will attract them to that bed, like catnip, in it. Or both.
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Hot pepper spray would be harmful. They get it on their paws and when they groom themselves it can get in their eyes. If you've ever gotten pepper juice in your eyes when cooking, you know it's painful. It's known that cats don't like the smell of citrus which is why Corrine1 had success with orange peels. Perhaps you could find a cat deterrent spray at a pet supply store that's used to keep them off furniture. I have cats and I've noticed they won't use an area that I've mulched with shredded cypress(commonly sold around here). I'm thinking it's more the texture than the smell. Maybe try lava rock mulch since the shredded bark can affect the nitrogen content of the soil. They prefer sand and soft garden soil. It sounds like the cat sprayed your cukes rather than peed 'on' them. Mostly un-neutered cats will do territorial spraying, but neutered/spayed cat will occasionally spray also. There may be more than one neighbor's cat out there. We have a sand-based play are here on the grounds and a lot of neighborhood cats use it(including our own)on their way to the vacant lot next door where they all like to hunt. The tenents here would like to have another medium under the 'jungle jim' but HUD safety regulations will only allow a soft medium like sand or ground rubber(and the housing authority would never pay for ground rubber). On the up side, we don't have a rodent problem here. Sorry to go on so long. I like cats and my garden and try to find ways to have both. Hope you can find something that works for you and report back to us.
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Well, personally I never garden without my gloves on. Too many soil born diseases that have nothing to do with cats. I think I'd have a "Monk" attack if I actually had to dig with my bare hands. Having said that I do have to keep my cat out of my freshly sown plantings and for that I use hardware cloth which I make into low Quanset hut type structures that I place over the seed rows(they look like this: ( only right side up). Cats won't walk on them and when the seedlings are high enough I remove the quanset hut structure. Cats won't purposely walk on the small plants as a rule. Don't make them too high though or that will intrigue a cat to see what's going on under the hump. As for mulch, once it settles down my cat mostly leaves it alone.
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This is how I get rid of things like ground hogs and anything else that wants to dig a hole and move in around my house!! Put your vacuum on blow or use a blower. Definately put on a breathing mask. Buy a cheap bottle of Cayanne pepper at a discount store, cheaper the better. Pour a Big handful down the hole, turn on the blower and give the hole a couple of blasts. Then get out of the way! Nothing will use that hole again for several months, LOL! This is absolutely the truth.
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Comments (11)
I've been told that cats hate the smell of citrus. So orange peels scattered around the garden seems to work. Beyond that, two years ago, I planted hot peppers at various places in the garden (a row of chilli peppers on the outside and a few rows of hot banana peppers in the middle). The cats wouldn't even come near them. While I suppose it would be possible for it to be harmful to the cat, I think most people are missing the point. It's the smell that the cats hate. So, unless you're sprinkling it through their main walkway, I sincerely doubt that it would be a problem. Cats have a pretty keen sense of smell. Chances are they'll get a good wiff of it long before they walk in it if you were particular about where you put it.
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digdirt2
11 years ago
Lots of discussions that the search will pull up - some quite recently - with all kinds of suggestions. Just type 'cats' in the forum search bar.

Fencing is the most common recommendation. If not the whole garden then small temporary fence around the newly planted area.

My cats scoff at the various repellents so i just lay down pieces of chicken wire over newly planted boxes or garden spots till the plants sprout and then remove them. They don't like to walk on it.

Now if it would only work for the armadillos!

Dave
crisslyon
11 years ago
I use grated citrus peels and cayenne pepper sprinkled around... Grandmas recipe... The old lady next to me has tons of cats and they use my yard but stay out of all my garden beds
lkzz
11 years ago
Some sort of fence would be my remedy. We have 4 cats and the garden fence keeps them at bay. Though they do seem to like the disgusting water in the bird bath whose edge they gracefully balance on to drink from. The clean water in their dish is ignored.

Cats...go figure...
silverkelt
11 years ago
Never really had a huge issue in the garden beds, but my kids sandbox was a issue for one of our cats for awhile, covered it in plexiglass for about a year or so.

But I have to comment on water, our cat WILL never drink from the water dish, dont even try anymore. Her favorite mode of drinking is for one of us to turn the upstaris bathroom faucet on so she can drink from the running water.
seanmorr
11 years ago
We have 3 beds in a neighborhood with a lot of cats...who thought they were giant litterboxes. This year I'd had enough and bought some of this
http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Gardener-602-BirdBlock-Protective/dp/B00004RA0O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368556526&sr=8-1&keywords=bird+garden+netting
put screws in the top of the beds and wrapped the netting around. So far worked well and I can cut out holes to plant into.

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Keeping Cats out of raised Beds

Comments (7)

victory_tea2085

IAmSupernova

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digdirt2

crisslyon

lkzz

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