Looking for a few tips and tricks to keep cats out of your garden and flowerbeds?
When it comes to pets, cats are one of the best. They can protect your house from mice, snakes and more, not to mention become a great companion for the whole family. Even better, they can even help protect your yard from pests like moles, voles and rabbits.
But being said, cats themselves can also bring problems to gardens and flowerbeds. They often look at open soil or even mulched soil as a giant outdoor little box. In addition, cats will often chew on the foliage of plants, and love using plant pots as a comfortable sleeping place.
Unfortunately, many homeowners can often train their own cats to stop most of the destructive behavior. But that doesn’t help when neighboring or stray cats move in – and they can certainly leave a swath of destruction behind.
The good news is that armed with a few key tips and tricks, you can stop cats from ruining your plants and landscape. With that in mind, here are some of the best methods for keeping cats out naturally.
How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
1. Rosemary
If there is one herb that cats simply detest, it is rosemary. The herb does require soil with good drainage, but it can stand a lot of sunlight, a little shade, or a mix of both. So the good news is that its quite easy to grow anywhere you need protection from cats.
With proper pruning, rosemary can also serve as low height borders or hedges in your garden. You will want to plant some in the ground in a row to get this benefit.
As essential oils, rosemary is even more effective in keeping cats out of your garden and flowerbeds. In this case, we use the kitties’ strong sense of smell – which is about 16 times sharper than that of humans – against themselves.
The smell of the rosemary herb around your garden and flowerbeds is unpleasant to cats, so it will prevent them from entering the area. Product link : Rosemary Essential Oil
This is one of the popular cat-be-gone tricks that any gardener can easily use. All you need is a cup of water mixed with 11 drops of rosemary essential oil. Spray the mixture all over the area in your front yard and your plants will be free of cat problems for up to two weeks or more.
2. Using Tape For Protection – How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
As crazy as it sounds, good old-fashioned tape can surprise cats and stop them from entering your garden. It’s also affordable and non toxic, making it a perfect choice for plant protection.
You can make tape balls out of duct tape or masking tape, then put them on the soil near your plants. This method works great for window boxes or urns that the cat has chosen as a lookout post.
The cat will try to jump up one or two times before giving up due to the irritating cling-ons preventing it to get to its landing spot. It is amazing how well this works for keeping cats out of containers.
3. Coleus Caninus Plant – How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
Any plant that goes by the name Scaredy Cat Plant has to be good for keeping cats away! The Coleus Caninus plant has long been known to deter cats and dogs as well.
The repelling capability is attributed to its offensive odor. That is certainly something to consider if you too are offended by its smell. Coleus Caninus smells like urine, causing cats and dogs to stay far away from it.
On the good side, the plant is easy to take care of. Simply plant it in the area that a cat is trying to use for litter, and you will see it remain clean as the animal doesn’t want to pee there anymore.
4. Chicken Wire – How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
Cats love to mess around, but they don’t really like challenges. And chicken wire is way too challenging for them to mess with! Using this material is a sure way to keep cats off your flowerbeds.
You can shop for it at most hardware stores as well as on-line. To deter kitties, lay the wire on top of your soil, allowing open spaces where your plants grow. It can also go down the walking rows of garden paths to keep them from entering any space.
In addition, chicken wire is excellent for creating a garden cover or fence. Cats hate the feel it gives to the pads of their paws so they won’t insist on climbing it to enter your garden.
5. Hot Pepper Spray How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
If your garden has become a favorite playground for a cat, don’t panic. Instead, use what you have in your kitchen to make the perfect repellent. Many kitchen spices are perfect for using to deter a cat. The most common option you can pick is none other than hot pepper flakes.
What cats hate about pepper is, of course, its pungent smell. It also happens to be simple and easy with so many options to use it.
You can make a spray from it or just sprinkle it in your garden. Both will stop cats from popping up and playing in the area. We have an entire article and recipe for hot pepper spray on the site here : How To Make & Use Hot Pepper Spray.
6. Plastic Garden Fencing – How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
With plastic garden fencing, you will be able to create a strong border for your garden quickly and easily. Among the advantages of plastic fencing is you won’t have to worry about sharp edges, rust or splinters. On top of that, it will keep looking as good as new despite the passage of time.
Plastic garden fencing is the favorite method of many gardeners who want to keep cats away from their plants. You can either use it as a vertical fence or cut it into one-foot square pieces and lay them in the raised beds around your plants, then you can remove or reorganize them to match the growth of the plants.
The presence of the fence discourages cats from coming inside. Not only do they not like climbing on mesh, the confined space makes them feel uncomfortable. Product Link : Motion Activated Sprinkler
7. Motion Sprinkler – How To Keep Cats Out Of Gardens & Flowerbeds
Last but not least, motion sprinklers can be a powerful means of defense for your garden. Especially when you’re facing feral cats that are ready to mess with your plants anytime you let your guard down.
With a motion activated sprinkler, your plants will be safe from the feline marauders even when you sleep. Because the system is designed to work automatically in repelling cats by spraying water suddenly when they get close. As a plus, this will also give your plants a drink each time an unwanted visitor approaches.
Here is to keeping cats out of your landscape this year!
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This Is My Garden is a garden website created by gardeners, for gardeners. Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books and speaking for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. They publish three articles every week, 52 weeks a year. Sign up today to follow via email, or follow along!