We gardeners love the beautiful, the fantastic and the unusual. For most of us, that includes cats.
As gardeners, it’s sometimes difficult to balance our love of plants, the wildlife we support, and our fun-loving feline friends.
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Eccentric, spicy and unpredictable.
From cute and spoiled companions to unruly neighborhood bullies, there are all kinds of cats.
In the urban environment, beloved cats are revered as pets best kept safe and indoors.
In rural areas, cats are important hunters, keeping small rodent populations at bay.
In both urban and rural areas, domestic cats pose a challenge to wildlife, especially songbirds.
Industrious or destructive and harmful?
Cats are the masters and sleep where they want. They crush favorite plants or dig and kick wherever they please.
They leave their mess in their wake. It’s harmful to plants, soil health and not fun for the gardener either.
In the pro column, cats help deter and reduce populations of small rodents. Especially mice, voles, moles and rats. These are also harmful to flower gardens, vegetable crops and can carry diseases undesirable to humans.
However, domestic cats pose a significant threat to wildlife, especially songbirds.
find a balance
Of course, we want to be as cat-friendly as possible. Especially if it’s your best furry friend you want to keep out of the flower bed!
Those neighborhood bullies, strays, and feral cats need our kindness too!
So the challenge is to keep our beloved furry felines safe, make other cats undesirable and protect wildlife at the same time.
Here are some strategies to achieve these goals, for the sake of our beautiful, abundant and thriving backyards!
4 friendly ways to keep cats away from flower and vegetable beds
1. Make a cat less comfortable.
Cats seem to lie on almost anything. And walk everywhere. Well, maybe not.
Sharp stone mulch. prickly leaves. Spicy pine cones. Bushy, pointed branches. Try to create surfaces throughout the yard that cats don’t want to step on or stretch on.
Audible deterrents and motion-sensing sprinklers make cats wave the white flag to retreat.
Cats can’t stand certain smells. Lemon peel, cinnamon, or coffee grounds can be sprinkled around the areas to protect them from cats.
Cayenne pepper and black pepper are also inhospitable odors to cats, but be careful as too much can damage sensitive noses, mouths and airways.
2. Grow Plants That Cats Hate
Cats can love or hate strong-smelling plants.
In particular, Rue, Lavender, Artemisia, Rosemary, Geranium, and Marigold are apparently disliked by cats.
I have had great success keeping my own cats out of flower beds by growing Lemon Gem marigolds, Tagetes tenuifolia, on borders with other bloomers. They have a delicious light lemon scent, not liked by cats!
It’s true, cats are crazy. Your cat may like or dislike some plants more than others!
Avoid using plants that cats generally like. Plants that many cats love are, of course, catnip (Nepeta sp.), Jacob’s ladder, valerian and flax.
3. Create a cat shelter
Hi! Look here! Perfect distractors for cats!
Create cat-friendly areas away from your precious flowers.
Use plants that cats love, such as catnip and valerian.
Create soft, comfortable surfaces for cats to enjoy.
Sunny places to warm up and shady places to rest in the afternoon. Oh, to be a cat!
4. Build an outdoor cat enclosure
In urban areas, many veterinarians recommend keeping cats indoors for their safety and comfort.
When the weather is nice, these cats can be restless about going outside. For them, you might consider building an outdoor cat enclosure.
An outdoor cat enclosure protects your flower beds. In addition, it protects the health of your cat. Wildlife, including songbirds, is also kept out of reach.
protect wildlife
Bird feeders, bird baths and hummingbird nectar feeders add beauty and drama to the landscape and our flower beds.
Location is key as these garden items can also attract predators, namely our furry feline friends.
Domestic cats and other pets have certain advantages over wildlife.
Wildlife spends 100% of its time outdoors in search of food and a safe environment.
Migratory birds cover incomprehensible kilometers with each migration. Weary travellers, migratory birds are highly threatened by predators.
Our goal as pet owners is to keep cats generally well fed, well rested, pampered and healthy.
For this reason, pets are formidable hunters of wild animals.
As mentioned, our cats take advantage of us by working hard to ward off rodent infestations.
At the same time, it is necessary to protect small birds, songbirds and migratory birds from our powerful cat hunters.
Gardening for wildlife is a wonderful and honorable business. Therefore, be sure to place bird feeders, birdbaths, and hummingbird nectar feeders out of reach of cats.
Creative and cunning, it can be difficult to outsmart some predatory cats.
Try hanging feeders from poles and place birdbaths or feeders on supports that are inaccessible.
Bird-friendly landscaping should include deterrents for cats, such as the use of strong odors, sharp mulches, and areas considered less comfortable for cats.
Finding friendly ways to keep cats away from flower beds not only helps protect our beautiful and thriving backyards, but also helps protect wildlife at the same time!