Flamin' Cats!!

[hamsterqueen]

They are using my beautifuuly raked, lovngly sown raised seed bed as a litter tray!

I'm thinking of putting sticks as a support with some fine netting over and pinning this to the ground around the bed.

Do you reckon this will stop them? I thought with netting it would let rain and sun through too.

In Spring it was foxes burying stuff and just when you think it is clear you are in the s*** Literally

[Eyren]

Netting should do it. I have bird netting all round my salad beds (more to keep the bantams out than anything else!) - it's about two feet high, supported on canes, and the cats don't bother to try and get in.

[TrulyGreen]

Blinking cats Actually I love cats, but have a similar problem, as the neighbours cat loves the raised beds. Ours are now enclosed in netting and on one we have built a chicken wire frame. It does the job nicely, although they do walk around them looking for a way in . So far without without success.....hope I haven't spoken too soon

You can also buy a thing that plugs in and emits a sound that cats hate, but can't be heard by humans....it's meant to put them off

[Finedon.Dandy]

My cats hate those CD's - we have them everywhere on the veggie plot. Its niot true what they say about cats not doing it at home so to speak!

[hamsterqueen]

I have heard that lion poo puts them off, but I'll try the netting first!

[nerobot]

I had the the same problem here. What's worse is my own cat does it. Grrr. Going to net everything next year.

Steven

[FionaH]

Since i started gardening this year my cat thinks its heaven. All those big cat toilets put in place just for her!

[Matt.]

Air rifle

Do a search and you'll fine some really good heated debates from the past!

[T-lady]

Matt - taking your life into your hands there ... lots of cat lovers lurking on this site, even if we're not so fond of their scratching habits!

I have to make sure that I never top dress beds with compost because they both love that - it's apparently THE ultimate kitty litter!

[Alice]

I cover mine with nets HamsterQueen.
They keep out the cats and the pigeons.

[Flapjack]

Oooh gorgeous beds Alice! Very neat paths too!

Our beds are constantly under cat attack unless I net them. Even then I have to make sure they are well pegged around the edges or they crawl under them. I put bamboo canes on the ground around the edge of the raised beds (on top of the edge of the netting - does that make sense?) and then a few pegs to hold the canes down. Without the canes I was using far too many pegs or they were still getting in!

[SlugLobber]

I have to make sure that I never top dress beds with compost because they both love that - it's apparently THE ultimate kitty litter!

Yep, when I had a kitty that needed litter training, I used compost as 'bait'. She loved it!

I use a small 'sacrificial' area as Rosco's kitty litter. The parsnips have been sprayed with soil when he gets over-eager with the digging, but otherwise it's worked very well. Every so often I aerate it, like a normal bed. Keeps me AND the neighbours happy! I couldn't shoot his little fluffy bum. He's far too cute!

[amandaandherveg]

I have a cat, not sure where he 'goes' but I do know that my neighbours 4 (eek) love my raised beds, pumpkins, squash, beans, mange tout, cabbages, leeks....................

Alice, I love your net set-up. What do you use to make the 'frames'?

[deezyb]

i''ve got 3 x cats - as mentioned on previous thread, they are a nuisance in my garden as well as anyone elses! I use the netting method, it seems to work for me.

d

[Duronal]

Detering cats hasn't been too much of a problem i just blocked off all entrances to my garden, it's cut down on the neighbourhood cats visits and keeps my cat near where i can see her. (she has no sense of direction and normally gets lost if a leave her out - keeps getting found and returned to via the vets)

As for keeping cats off the beds cd's seem to work, as do kebab sticks, i'm going to play with a polly tunnel over the raised bed and we'll see how it goes.

D