Is garlic a good cat repellent for the garden?

Hello!!
I just put in some new raised beds.
Well, I caught one of our cats using it as a litter box today. He is an indoor/outdoor guy.

My mom said that if you take a garlic clove and put it in the blender with some water then spray it on the garden bed he will stay away.

I thought about chicken wire. There are three large beds. But I would rather not go that road.

#1 Will this work?

#2 Will the garlic hurt seedlings? (carrots, beets, radishes, turnips)

#3 Does anyone have a better idea? ( besides getting rid of my Scooter) : )

hi FlowerFan,

I'm not sure about the answer to the garlic spray question. I wouldn't spray where you will plant peas or beans (they dislike all allium family). Later in the season garlic spray is good for lots of things, so unless the seedlings are too tender to take it, it seems that it should be okay otherwise. Just a best guess though.

If your beds are new and the earth is freshly dug, this problem *may* take care of itself in awhile. I mean that as the freshly-dug appeal goes down, Scooter may scoot on by the raised beds. (also as the plants grow up).
Or maybe not! But still, I always find the odds of enticing a cat to do something appealing has a much greater chance of working than trying to get one to *not* do something (anything!).
So my suggestion is: dig up another spot for Scooter - make it as appealing as possible from a cat point of view. Maybe you can get him to pick it instead.
(or, easier suggestion: just wait awhile and see if he loses interest in the raised beds).

Our indoor/backyard gaggle of cats generally don't mess with the raised beds, but they all had to have a good roll and dig when the compost went in this spring. Then they went back to grass chewing, bird stalking and other more important matters.

Thank you Paani for the reply! : )

We have very rocky soil so I think he is finding the raised beds to be heaven. Normally he uses the gravel driveway.

I think what I will do is seed my cold crops and cover with chicken wire. Then when they start to come up I will take it off and see how he does. If that does not work I will try the garlic idea.

Thank you again!

Here is another idea. For whatever area you currently need him to stay out of, stick plastic untensils in the ground around sorta scattered, not in a row. He will not like it and choose another spot. Frankly, cats are so great to have around the garden, I wouldn't want to do anything to permanently discourage his presence. His smell keeps other critters out.

A BIG WELCOME TO BOTH OF YOU FROM ALL OF US AT DAVE'S GARDEN. I can personally tell you, there is no place like home except Dave's.

I bought "catscat" in hopes of discouraging my pets from the garden area. They are little squares of sharp plastic prongs that hurt their paws when they step on them. Alas, my cats found that they could flick them out of the beds and and usethem as scrathers for their cheeks and chins. So now, they not only dig i the dirt, they also rolll around in it! NUTS!

If you have rock hard ground he may love it if you were to give him his own bed. You could plant wheat grass and cat nip on one end for him and he can use the other end as his outhouse. :)

of course this is coming from someone who is owned by her pets and has been known to do ever stranger things for them.

Chicken wire is the ONLY method I've found to be effective in keeping cats out of my raised beds.