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

[Nicos]

I'm pretty sure that neat JF is highly toxic to cats...so please be very, very careful when using it.

[veggiechicken]

IMO the best thing to do is netting over the beds/pots that are being soiled. Removable "cages" are easy enough to knock up either with wood or pipe.
I have dogs and chickens and I net off the areas I don't want them to go in. Problem solved.

[Derbydal]

i'm using this around my lawn and its diluted ,I don't realy want a net draped over the lawn like a mozqueto net !the niegbours think i'm daft enough as it is going out first thing in the morning with a trowell uttering oathes and wanging catmuck about !lol atb Dal.

[self-contained]

The JF website implies it is not toxic to pets once dried. With the weather as it is, I didn't have to wait long for it to dry, and no chance of the cats coming close while I was watching!

I made sure not to spray any onto my actual compost. I've splashed it onto the concrete around my containers only.

So far, that combined with the holly branches seems to be keeping them at bay.

[Dynamite]

I’ve counted at least 9 different Cats but must be more. It only started a month ago so I reckon somebody has moved into the neighbourhood that has a lot of cats!! A cat hoarder maybe. Would have thought one was enough. You see them all the time on these hoarding programmes and not treat very well either.

Even if I grow stuff now, the wife isn’t going to be eating any so no point. Even if I fence the entire garden off, it’s completely put her off.

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

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

[self-contained]

Maybe you could spend this year putting in longer term crops (things like fruit bushes, rhubarb, globe artichokes, sorrel, perennial herbs, a strawberry bed etc.) and working on your soil quality while you tackle the cat problem? A few months making your garden an inhospitable environment for cats may cut their future visits considerably so that next year you can start putting in shorter term crops again. In the meantime, you could fill empty spaces with annual flowers (preferably things that won't readily self-sow) so that it at least looks nice out there.

Ultimately though, I think any gardener is likely to encounter numerous setbacks every year: seeds that don't germinate, crops destroyed by pests of one kind or another, silly mistakes destroying carefully nurtured seedlings, and so on. Blooming cats are just one more thing (maybe nine more things in your case) that are trying to get in your way. I think if you want to be a gardener, it's pretty much a requirement that you don't get put off too easily and you find ways to work with things as they are and not just as you want them to be.

[veggiechicken]

Its not just cats that poo in one's garden - there are insects, birds, squirrels, rabbits, moles, foxes, badgers, deer etc depending on where you live. Unless you want to live in a bubble, you can't keep everything out of your garden, or off your crops.
Its something you live with if you want to have a garden.

[Lumpy]

I agree with VC.
A garden is strewn with poop oof all kinds.

However, the cat variety is the most off putting.

I have bright yellow 3D windmills, extra hot chilli pepper and a load of sticks at all kinds of odd angles protecting the soil in my raised beds. It will all stay in place until plants are shoved in or grow.

Please don't quit as the benefits from GYO far out weigh the problems.

[Nicos]

It's the poo and wee from wildlife-like rats-which would concern me more.
Just because you haven't seen a rat doesn't mean they don't go in your garden.

As far as cats go, you just need to make your own garden not as 'user friendly' as your other neighbours....in the opposite way you would perhaps try to do to encourage birds or hedgehogs.

You can compost cat/dog poo specifically for the non edible plants in your garden....did you know that?

[veggiechicken]

I forgot the rats and mice !!
They say that you are never more than 6' away from a rat - although that statistic has been disputed as a lot depends on where you live . However, rats are everywhere and cats in the garden may be doing you a favour in deterring them.
Neighbour's cats and stable cats visit my garden - as do rats. I'd rather have the cats around.

[Lumpy]

I have mice in the garden and its a double edged sword.
This year the slug and snail population have been marmalised because of them the frog and visiting hedgehogs.
Please try and remember that what you grow will never be clean and perfect like shop bought stuff.
Stick with it and adapt is a common mantra in GYO.

[Runtpuppy]

Please try and remember that what you grow will never be clean and perfect like shop bought stuff.
Stick with it and adapt is a common mantra in GYO.

The only reason shop-bought stuff is clean is because they clean it before packaging it. You don't know how many foxes, rabbits, deer, badgers, and other animals (including cats) decided to use the field as a personal loo!

I have cats come poo in my garden/veg patch. I grab a doggy bag, clean it up, and get on with my life. If it's not on the veg patch, I use a trowel to bury it in the soil. If they're using me garden as a litter box, I might as well get some soil nutrients out of it.

I'm gonna wash anything I eat very well, anyway.

[veggiechicken]

Gardening gloves make sense too - for all sorts of reasons - says VC who has just shredded her hand on a bramble!
Should have worn thicker gloves, you silly chicken.

[Dynamite]

Its not just cats that poo in one's garden - there are insects, birds, squirrels, rabbits, moles, foxes, badgers, deer etc depending on where you live. Unless you want to live in a bubble, you can't keep everything out of your garden, or off your crops.
Its something you live with if you want to have a garden.

It beyond that unfortunately VC. Thanks anyway.

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

[veggiechicken]

Your GH should be "safe" so concentrate on that, perhaps. Its surprising how much you can grow year round in a GH.