Keeping Country Cats Out Of Your Garden

Big problem when you live in the country and your own cat, plus all the neighborhood cats, think of your flower and vegetable gardens as their personal litter box. Especially so if they see you digging there, they’ll wonder why they shouldn’t be as well.

Not only can your seeds, seedlings, and perennials become uprooted, but if you have cats in your garden you’ll also find withering plants and feces where you dig and weed.

If you have a garden, it can be very annoying if cats and other animals decide to make your garden their litter box. Stick to your guns and fend them off and you’ll be able to prevent them from bothering your garden again.

Top 5 Ways To Keep The Cats Out of the Garden

Your first line of defense to keep cats out of your garden is to fence it off. If you already have fencing, make sure that every square inch is secure and hole free. If there are any gaps or holes in your fence make sure that you block them to prevent any low level access for cats.

Since cats are very agile creatures and can jump very high, they can easily scale most fences. If this is your garden’s trouble and a cat’s point of entry, invest in string or install some taut wire across the top of the fence.

If you catch a cat in your garden, it may be challenging to catch them and get them out. While it has been suggested on other sites to use dogs to protect the garden – dogs are known to dislike cats – this is lame. Many pet dogs don’t mind cats and dogs will make a bigger mess of your garden chasing the cats out! Think about it – I’m shuddering.

One thing that 90% of cats despise is water – often your best defense and if you’re careful it won’t hurt your tender plants either. When you spot a cat in your garden, turn on the sprinklers, grab a high powered water gun, or fling a water bucket’s contents in the cat’s direction. You only need a few drops to land on any cat a few times. They’ll never come back.

Motion activated sprinklers, although potentially pricey, work great in keeping cats out of your garden. Once you install the sprinkler system and a cat comes into the area, the detector will pick up the cat’s presence and immediately shoot out a jet of water in that direction to soak the cat. As with the bucket of water, it only takes a few shots of water before a cat learns to stay away.

Can’t Be On Guard All The Time?

Protecting your plants from cats digging in the garden when you can’t be watching or guarding the garden all day and night consider using mothballs.

Mothballs are very effective (cats don’t like the smell) and they won’t hurt your plants. Use mothballs around your plants, the garden’s borders, and even along the fence line. If mothballs don’t work try cayenne peppers, tobacco, lavender oil, citronella oil, mustard oil, or lemon grass oil.

Other Ways to Keep Cats Out

Sound devices that feature high frequencies are also a great way to scare off cats, and they aren’t annoying to humans.

Many different models exist with a variety of features to choose from. Some stay on all the time while others are motion detected. To use a sound device you’ll need to make sure that the model you have is strong enough to cover your entire garden area.

Commercial Repellents for Cats

Commercial repellents use scents to keep cats away and are fine for flower gardens but shouldn’t be used near any food crops.

Due to their high chemical content, commercial repellents can pollute your garden bed as well as crops. We don’t use them since they aren’t usually environmentally friendly, so you’ll have to search for them at the online country store or your local department store.

Cat Supplies at Discount Prices

See these categories: motion activated sprinklers, cheap cat beds, cat tree (indoor exercise trees for cats).

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