It shouldn't be very hard to make a circle out of hardware cloth or some other fencing that is tall and wide enough to keep the cats away. Cats are attracted to this plant similar to catnip, I believe.

I am in love with herbs! I started growing basil in with my tomatoes and eggplants a few years ago. This year I grew some in a strawberry pot with mint and geraniums. I just brought it indoors 2 weeks ago and it's still growing like crazy. I like it in a pot close to the house so I see it all the time and keep the blooms pinched off. I've been growing the same plant now for 5 months. My neighbor even stops by to beg basil leave every now and again. Haven't had as good of luck with cilantro, but I haven't given up yet! Next spring, I'm going to start more from seed and try oregano and a few others.

Well, know in advance that by letting nature take its course, that you run the risk of predation. Wasps are one of the biggest predators 'out in the wild' as are some of the spiders. In my garden, the jumping spiders are the biggies. Personally? If I wanted the little guys to hopefully, make it to adulthood, then I'd put them into small containers and feed them by hand, to to speak. I have info about this on my various websites (you can check any of them for info on raising butterflies...I am revising my Monarch guide but you can still access it). As for watering the garden? I don't think it hurts them any. I have hosed off the Oleander Aphids off of my Milkweed without even knowing I had Monarch larvae on the plants and didn't hurt them before. With regards to where they are going to pupate? Caterpillars are odd...they will pupate where THEY want to. You could put all the goodies you think they will want to pupate on and sure enough, they won't use ANY of your good intentioned items. The goofy things will go and pupate on some odd item or plant or...(I'm notorious for my larvae pupating in weird spots so I know this is definitely the case!). Don't worry about having anything special for them. They're like human children and will do what THEY want regardless of what YOU want. tee-hee! My Butterfly Guide tdogmom

I see some friends from years past and friends I've yet to meet! I have a nest of titmice and brown-headed nuthatches but the bluebirds are nesting across the street, I think. As for snakes, after what happened last July here, I do not trust ANY baffle! The one made of netting looks promising and if I get any birds after these first ones, I'll try it. If you didn't see my article in the Bayou (Louisana) Bluebird Society's newsletter about what happened here with 5 bluebird fledglings last July, their parents and a snake, check it out below. I don't trust much of any kind of deterrent for snakes after this. Right now, there have been NO takers for that nest box even though the snake never got on the box. A pair of bluebirds looked in quite a lot but never did go in (there's a nestbox video camera in there). There were titmice, nuthatches, chickadees all looking at it but no one took it!!! It's a mystery to me. Let's hope our bluebirds and other birds have a safe and productive season despite the challenges. Bluebird blessings, Linda... Here is a link that might be useful: BIG surprise: bluebirds vs snake