How do I keep my cat out of my beds?!!!

My cat has killed almost all my stuttgart! I have one little bit left.. cleaned out the bed today and need to flush out what is left of the soil.. put in new.. now, what do I do to keep her out of it once I am finished.???? I keep a perfectly clean litterbox in the house.. she uses that too.. maybe the neighbors cats too? I know my cat does use my yard some also but not that much!... It was a mess!!!! Any suggestions? you do NOT want to know about the stuff I cleaned out of there today.

These were the ones back there a couple years ago.. all gone.. one tiny sprout at teh edge of the patio.. dug it all out ... no rhyzomes anywhere else... just cat *#%*!

Afriend of mine uses pine cones in his flower beds. They also sell things in some catalogs that are metal that has little spike you lay in beds that would seem to work i think. Good Luck.

Try.
www.cat-repellant.info/

thank you for that site.. some good home remedies to try... at the moment.. I have turned it into a mud pit.. let them try that!!

I'm about ready to trap my neighbors cats and re-locate them. I work so hard to made a nice garden and now the new neighbors cats are slowly destroying it. Today I was waiting for them with my spay bottle of water but that only works while I'm around. I will be taking some harsh measures if I have too. I will be watching your thread for advice. Dont get me wrong, I have a cat but she is not allowed out, I also have a dog and I dont alllow her to run a-muck to destroy others hard work. This is a sore subject with me now and I understand what your going through.
Christine

This message was edited Mar 27, 2009 5:37 PM

I hear you jasminesmom, what a pain neighbor's cat's can be. Yesterday I put some pavers down where they think ttheir potty station is. I don't like them there and maybe will try pine cones. I have lots of them. I'm sure though they will just go somewhere else in the yard. I"ve used spray repellants before but they didn't seem to work all that well or not for very long anyway and the moth ball stuff, but it doesn't last either and is expensive. Vortreker, thanks for the site you sent; I'll check it out. Eve

Are you sure it isn`t armadillos disturbing your soil?Cats usually don`t totally excavate plants like that. My guess is armadillos are digging it up and the cats are using the loose dirt left behind? Armadillos are nocturnal and they love to eat worms,grubs, roots and rhizomes so they most likely have eaten your cannas. You can thwart armadillos with a short border fence. They only come out at night so you may never see them unless you stay up all night and stare out the window.

Try fixing the cats a outside toilet in a corner somewhere with some cheap mulch. Replace the mulch with a new bag every week just like you clean the inside box and it might help.

This message was edited Mar 28, 2009 5:46 PM

We do not have armadillos here... have never even seen a dead one at the side of the road in over 30 years... I have a 6 ft fence.. only the cats climb that... the only wild life within this city is an occasional skunk and 3 miles away we have cyotes.

Nope, definitely cats.. I think the amonia urine destroyed the cannas. That soil was terrible with it. I had to really dig it out... dumped it in the alley.

Yes, cat urine is not compatible with plant life. I have to put cages around new plantings because they find loose dirt and or mulch irresistible. My established plants seem to be ok once they get past the settling in stage and grow in then I can remove the cages.

I think it was the mulch the cats liked so much... nice and loose... I have to have something or it dries out horribly.. going to really fill this bed with polymer as I re do it... need to find more cannas first.. only have one tiny stuttgart left. Afraid to move it but it is growing up against the cement pation under the edge of the jacuzzi! I am going to wait until I am finished getting everything ready before I try moving it... it is already about 12" tall.

You could try using rocks and maybe the big chunky bark mulch along with some nice prickly pine cones?

What I have tried to keep my dogs out of my beds ,and it worked ,was to cut long branches from like blackberry or raspberry bushes and just lay them over your planting beds.The dogs figured this out real quick and still to this day are keeping out my beds.BB

Hi LhasaLover

We have alot of roaming cats in town for some reason and here's what I do to keep them out of all my flowerbeds. (This also seems to keep the squirrels and raccoons from visiting the beds!) I save our used coffee grounds and when I have a nice little bucket full, I spread it around in the flowerbeds. Cats hate coffee grounds, but the worms love it!

I have also, on several occasions, resorted to what my DH calls my "little beds of horrors!" I buy the 100 count wooden scewers for around $1.49 and stick them down in the flowerbeds that are bothered alot. This always works very well!

Crushed sage is another little trick. Hope you find something that'll work for you.

Hi LhasaLover,

I've been having trouble with cats getting in my flower beds also. I started saving my coffee grounds and putting clumps of grounds by my flowers and it has helped. I also use twigs and big pieces of mulch to make little spikes around my plants. I made a new flower bed for cannas this year and right now I have rakes and shovels and anything else I could find laying across the top to keep them out of it. It drives me crazy.

Tammy

When I want to keep my cats out of a pile of dirt I`m working with I cover it with a lattice panel and it works too.

I buy a big, cheap can of black pepper and sprinkle it all around my flowerbeds. You know how cats like to sniff around to find "just the right place." When they keep getting a nose full of pepper, they go looking elsewhere :-}

I had a big can of coffee that was never going to be used.. was too old.. I sprinkled some of that out there and let her go sniffing.. so far, she has not been back in there. I will see how long that works.

Try using shake away, my first time with it this year. So I can't give a testimonial yet. But it comes highly reccommended from a fellow DGer. There is one for cats too.

http://www.critter-repellent.com/?source=GoogleAW&gclid=CNCWq5bc4ZkCFSQeDQodaikyXA

oh me !

didnt KNOW about stuttgartS. Real NICE!

but if you are going to go pepper - you might as well do red pepper. but it will get to the birds and other critters too.

I lost several very pricey shrubs to neighbors cats desire to irrigate my area. we did a water pistol too
. . .mixed with VINEGAR!
do let us know what you find that "works"!

my prized shrubs are long gone.
- but still have that neighbor - and his cat!

Cheyene Pepper

Here's something an old vietnamese grandma told me about - and I've seen it work:

Fill a 2-litre pop bottle 2/3 of the way with water. Plant it in your garden (about 2 ft apart). Cats won't "go" where there is a scent of water. Suppose it smells like their water dish?! I don't know..........but it works. My (used-to-be) outdoor cat climbed the garden fence to jump into my garden (with chainlink fencing around it, except for 1 wooden side), but as soon as I planted the water bottles, she sniffed, then turned around and left. We were watching, in secret, so it wasn't because we were there - she didn't know we were inside @ the window, watching.

Tallulah_B - *sob* *sob* where were you when i was loosing all the pricey shrubs?

no matter - good info must be copied and saved! thanks!

awwwwwww 50glee - sorry to hear about your pricey shrubs!
isn't it always the way? Sorta like when you throw something out you haven't used for years, just to find you need it 1 week later!

Fresh moth balls ... that keeps the cats away from my canas :D

I heard that if you use ashes (campfire, burn barrel ashes, etc) that keeps the cats away. Haven't tried it but someone posted it in our lasagna bed thread. It's also healthy for your soil, but use lightly.

Ashes are only healthy if you live in an area where your soil is acidic. They are alkaline. I would kill anything here if I added ashes because we are already alkaline.. I sure wish it was possible.. I would have a place to dump the ashes when I clean out the fireplace!

A simple non-chemical answer is what I use in my beds. I mulch with 2-inch river rock. It's attractive, easy to install, keeps the soil moisture at the top, and it's easy to move to add a plant if you need to. Cats cannot move it and won't use your beds for a litter box.

we have the river rocks in the back and opted for wood mulch in the front because it was cheaper.. WOW did we ever mess up.. the river rocks yes are more money but i have to reapply mulch ever year and that has doubled the cost so far and now next year will make 3 times what i thought it would cost.. we have squirrel every day digging holes all over.. Hubby every day gets pissed and covers them back up.. to add to the cost he bought a trap to catch them and relocate them on his way to work.. I really dont think that even helps they just keep coming over lol... I told him from the start to do rocks.. Now this week we have three cats living under out porch and that cheap mulch i though i bought turns out its kitty litter lol..