Raised Beds - Might as well be called Cat Litter Tray. HELP

[Dynamite]

Can anyone tell me the best way to deter cats from using my garden as a toilet, specifically my raised beds as a litter tray.

It is literally disgusting finding it all the time and it’s really really demoralising us. We are contemplating putting a stop to growing altogether because of it.

We really enjoy it but to be honest, who really wants to eat produce grown amongst Cat Faeces!

It’s all we are going to be thinking about when we try and eat our nice parsnips, carrots, onions and lettuce etc. We are already balking at the thought before anything has even been harvested.

Kind Regards.............Rob

[mrbadexample]

Netting. There is no practical solution other than a physical barrier as far as I can see.

[Jimmy]

Yes cat and dog owners, I want a cat/dog everyone else will have to put up with it!

Bits of broken cane pushed in around the rows.
Or that green plastic fencing mesh, I have lengths cut up to raised bed row size.
Layed down on the soil deters the vermin.

Or chicken wire molded into cloche shapes.

You need to be carful as many people on the forum have wildly differing views on this problem.

Generally best left alone.

Jimmy

[Cadalot]

Lidl were selling a solar powered ultrasonic deterrent last week but you can't beat hoop fames and chicken wire or mesh or netting of some description if you want to keep them off. I have same problem with foxes who also dig a lot more than cats.

[Florence Fennel]

I lay sticks of any description over bare earth. If they can't get a comfortable crouch they keep off. Pepper works too

[Mr Bones]

Curry powder sprinkled around works but try and use stuff without salt.

[Penellype]

I agree about covers - cloches, nets, wire fences or fleece work. Its a pain to have to lift them to weed, but necessary if there is a real problem.

I also use bits of stick pushed vertically into the ground, which sometimes works - this seems to depend on the cat.

However, from what you are growing you will definitely need nets for carrots and probably parsnips to keep carrot fly off, onions may suffer from onion fly if you have it in your area, and lettuces can be attacked by caterpillars, so netting the lot will do no harm. Use a fine mesh to deter these pests.

[monkeyboy]

I had a similar problem. Last year i planter some garlic bulbs in autumn. I then cut some bamboo sticks to about half a metre and pushed them into the edges around the perimeter of the planted area. I think I placed them around six inches apart. The rest of the bed was covered with ground fabric as I had no need for it.

This year, I've put up frame and netting. It needs to be tidied up but you get the idea:

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ml#post1595646

[ecudc]

Cats are great at jumping on to things but they don’t seem to like jumping over things. A chicken wire fence would probably keep them out as they seem to find them a bit too wobbly to want to climb or as others have suggested a frame to go over the beds.

Some next door neighbours put some fake grass down. That became very attractive so it might work it as a decoy.

Extra hot chilli powder although you have to reapply frequently.l

[Lumpy]

As many above I use black pepper, chilli or curry powder.
I also invested the princely sum of £4 at the £ shop and got the large kiddies windmills.
They are bright yellow and are 3 dimensional and turn at the slightest hint of a breeze.

[Jungle Jane]

My cat did a mess right on top of one of my onions the other day,I’d taken the cover off now they’re bigger,I thought there’s no room to get comfortable in there & that’s what happens. That was in my raised bed,I just pulled it out I’m not eating that one,it does put you off. Problem is once you clean out the mess,cats can still smell the scent,pepper on the spot helps so when they come back looking for their scent they get a nose of pepper. Ive got sticks covering my growing areas,my cat prefers using the north & east facing borders (unless there’s a raised bed litter tray calling him). I think he knows it’s most shady in those areas so the sun won’t be heating it up. Cats that use neighbours gardens probably don’t care where they go because they don’t have to live there. When I first moved here there was a cat that kept leaving a mess next to my front door (I didn’t have a raised bed) I did loads of gooogling & found that they dont mess where they eat,so I started giving him bits of ham & he was always round here when his owner was at work & the mess stopped. Good luck with it we’re all in the same boat,to succeed never quit

[nickdub]

Not sure it will help much with your problem, but for others reading this with cats, I found they liked to bask and roll over on my seed beds in summer. What I used to do was to keep a lot of my thorny hedge prunings like wild rose, hawthorn, blackthorn etc, then when I'd sowed the seeds I'd scatter 8" lengths of this thorny stuff on the surface and just leave it. Worked OK for that problem - now I have deer in the garden so what few bits of stuff I still grow has to be comprehensively netted anyway.

[Bren In Pots]

I've found the only thing what works is netting around my beds, its safe for the neighbours cats and is easy enough to un-peg when I need to get to the soil.

[bario1]

I place large rigid wire frames (the ones used for security on windows) over my raised beds until newly sown plants are established. My problem isn't cats though, it's foxes trampling and digging around in my beds. You can often pick up those mesh frames on your local freebie sites.

[ESBkevin]

You can get some deterent by using blackberry thorn branches layed all about but it's not 100%.
One of the sad by products of beautiful soft frieble soil in the garden is that every cat in the street knows where it is, and since most people have concrete or hard landscaping our garden is about the only target. They even mark the lawns around here! In addition to which regular applications of mulch, compost, broken down autumn leaves and wood chip only serve to give the birds a source of worms and insects so particularly in winter the surface is pulled about all over. But thats nature and feeding the birds naturally is a pleasure.

On the vegetable plot a physical barrier/net is the best option. Always wear gloves when working in the soil!