Cats and your Vegetable Garden

What can you do about cats - very little I am afraid. Sorry to be so blunt but it is the simplest and quickest answer. There is no way you can stop a cat coming into your yard or garden, BUT there are things you can do to limit their damage.

This is Tigger, (I know it is a poor photo). He was my baby, a baby kitten and I owned him but then he grew into a cat and he owned me. If you do not like cats you will not really understand that, but any cat owned humans out there will know exactly what I mean. You can own a kitten but never own a cat. A cat owns it's human. I loved him and I think he loved me, especially when I was feeding him or making him happy.  He was with me for 13 years until he died of cancer. He once put me in hospital for 5 days but that is a long story. People ask what did I do to him when I got home from hospital? I picked him up and kissed him as I had not seen him for 5 days. That is how a cat can own you. Even after spending 5 days in hospital, which he caused, he wanted ME to love him.

As for my garden he was never a problem. He always went and did his business in both yards to either side of me and never near my vegetable plot. One garden was massive and he seemed to go anywhere in it except for the vegetable plot. My other neighbor always had problems with him doing it in his vegetable plot.

I do not have a big problem in my High Density Garden simply because I take precautions. I cover each mini plot when planted with a grid covered in a mesh which allows water and rain as well as sunlight through. I do not need to do this for established crops but certainly do when planting seeds. The grids are quick to make, cheap and last for years

One of the other things I do is to plant catnip in my flower garden. Cats love this, it is a bit like an aphrodisiac for them and they usually go wild for it. Yes it brings some extra cats into my garden but guess where they go to and it is not near my High Density Garden and the vegetables. The other big thing is that when it flowers it is a great plant for bees which are essential for a vegetable plot as they pollinate your vegetables. Plants like runner beans, peas, and French beans need to be pollinated to give you a good crop and bees are what do this.

I have also read that things like these high powered children's water guns are great to soak cats with, but they are not something I use. Cats are good learners and a few soakings will deter them from your yard. I do not mind cats. My crops are protected and cats can be beneficial. I do not really have a  problem with birds digging up seeds as the cats scare them away and mice are also not a problem. Mice can eat seeds. Last year my Dad lost most of his broad bean crop as mice ate the seeds. We replanted his crop but it did delay his harvest of broad beans. I do not have this problem as the cats scare the mice away.

Just remember that whilst cats can be a problem, they can also be of use in your garden.

PS. You could always get a dog but these can cause even more damage to your vegetable plot.