Wondering how to keep cats out of garden? You may want to stop them from defecating on the garden since their poop contains parasites, bacteria, and viruses that can be harmful to humans. Some of the reasons domestic cats wander around include establishing territory, curiosity, hunting, mating, and feeding. Homeless strays and feral cats might be looking for a place to call home. To stop these cats from turning your garden into their personal litter box, you might want to do the following.
1. Use Chicken Wire
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You can prevent cats from straying into your garden by laying down chicken wire on top of your soil mulch. It’s usually easier to do this before you plant. Cats find it difficult walking on chicken wire. Use wire cutters to open up pockets in the chicken wire for your plants as you plant.
2. Bristly Material
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If you’ve already established your garden bed, you can keep cats away by mulching the garden bed with egg shells, sharp-edged pine cones, holly cuttings, or stones. Cats prefer to poop in a place where they can dig into loose dirt. Using bristly material will discourage cats from pooping in your garden.
3. Plants
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Plants such as Coleus canina give off a smell that cats hate. This is why it is referred to as the “scaredy cat plant”. If you plant it in or around your garden, cats won’t dare venture into it. Other plants that can help keep cats at bay include lavender, rue, and pennyroyal. To ensure an even spread of these cat repellent plants, you should incorporate them into your landscaping. Talk to landscaping professionals at Royal Decks if you need help with this.
4. Electric Wire Fence
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Heard of the popular Mr.McGregor fence for keeping rabbits out of your garden? It can also come in handy when you want to keep the cats out. It is safe and won’t harm the cats or any other animal that comes into contact with it.
5. Water Guns
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Cats hate getting wet. What better weapon to use against them than water? Squirt cats with a water gun whenever they step into your yard or garden. This will help reinforce the fact that they are unwanted in that particular area.
6. Motion Triggered Water Devices
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Scarecrow Sprinklers and other devices that fire a blast of water upon the detection of an intruder can go a long way towards keeping your garden cat-free.
7. Ultrasound Devices
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Get your hands on a high frequency sound device such as Cat Stop. Such devices produce high frequency sounds that cats find unbearable. These sounds are inaudible to humans so you won’t have to deal with the noise. Position the device such that it faces your garden. The device is fitted with a motion sensor that triggers the production of the high frequency sounds upon the detection of an intruder. It can help keep all sorts of animals away from your garden.
8. Sound Repellent
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You can get a sound repellent that is motion activated to keep cats out of your garden. You can either buy one off the shelf of make your own noisy device by placing pebbles or marbles in a metal can that makes noise whenever a cat walks into your garden. You can also use wind chimes or a sensitive bell to achieve this.
9. Commercial Cat Repellents
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Buy shake-away powder which bears the scent of the urine of predators that cats normally avoid such as foxes, coyotes, and bobcats. The repellent comes in granular form so you’ll need to sprinkle some around your garden to keep cats out. This powder wont harm your plants and is safe to use even when you have kids.
10. Smelly Substances
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Cats don’t like citrus or the dried blood found in blood meal fertilizer. You can use peels of lemons, oranges, grapefruit, and lime to keep cats out of your garden. Cayenne pepper also works like a charm but it stings.
Make sure to keep changing tactics frequently as cats may get used to your usual methods.
