Best Tips To Keep Your Garden Pest Free

Whether your garden is for summertime veggies or a budding flower bed that accentuates your property, cats are their natural enemy. You have nothing against the feline visitors, but you don’t want them tearing up your garden or using it as their personal litter box. How can you keep them and your precious plants safe? Here are a few tips.

Water as a Deterrent

For the most part, cats and water don’t mix well. Sure, there are a few daredevils that defy the squirt bottle and even some that love the water. However, most felines will run after getting sprayed with h2o, and although you may not believe it, cats can learn a lesson from a few squirts.

This is one of a few cat repellents that actually work. After getting hit a few times when the motion detector senses them, your friendly neighborhood fuzzy will go out of the way to avoid your precious petunias and delicious tomatoes. Plus, this comes with a bonus; it waters your garden. But, unless you have a pack of cats overrunning your yard daily, this tool isn’t a replacement for daily waterings.

Sound Off

Ultrasonic sound can keep away pests without pestering you with obnoxious noise or accidentally spraying you while you’re out to smell the roses. These are pretty effective because our beloved felines have very sensitive hearing, similar to dogs and other animals. These devices are also motion-activated. You won’t need to worry about disturbing other wildlife, such as birds or your neighbor’s dog that happens to stroll past your herb garden.

Physical Barriers

You may be considering a physical barrier to keep pests out. If you can put up chicken wire fencing that still allows you access to your garden for upkeep and harvesting, this can work. However, considering how agile cats are, a determined pest will easily breach your physical barrier to get into your flowers or fruits and vegetables. When using chicken wire, include a layer under your soil. Your plants will still grow through them, and it will be harder for felines to dig in your garden.

Similar to a physical barrier, you can place items in your garden’s bed that will make walking in it very unpleasant for animals. You may not be aware, but felines are very picky about what touches their toes. Simple items found outside can deter cats and send them to another persons’ yard. These include,

• A layer of twigs
• A layer of pine needles
• Eggshells (these will also help with slugs, another garden pest)
• Plastic carpet runners with the spiky side up

Some people may consider adding spikes to their fencing to deter pests. This may be effective but has the potential to be dangerous for people and animals.

Chemicals

There are safe chemicals to use with pets. For example, Get Off My Garden, cat and dog repellent crystals work in all weather conditions and can even scare off the occasional fox. The smell is what causes feline pests to stay away. A similar product, Hot Exit, helps keep animals off your lawn and out of your garden as it emits a strong aroma of hot chili peppers. Similar to the other product, this works in all weather conditions, which means if it rains for a week, you still won’t need to reapply it. Another item, that’s not as pleasant, but still works for many people, is Silent Roar Lion Manure. These are pellets soaked in lion feces. It won’t damage your garden and doesn’t seep into any fruits, vegetables, or herbs growing.

Natural Aromas to Deter Feline Visitors

As mentioned, cats, dogs, and most animals have a strong sense of smell. If you can offend their nostrils, it’s possible to keep them away, safe, and still have a flourishing garden. Are you an avid orange eater? Start saving the peels and place them in your flower beds and around vegetable plants. They won’t harm anything, have a pleasant citrus odor, and cats absolutely hate the smell. It doesn’t have to be oranges, anything citrus will do.

Another option is to give your neighborhood felines something better than your garden. Create a cat-friendly garden away from your fruits and vegetables with plants they can’t resist-

• Mint
• Honeysuckle
• Catnip
• Sandbox (Don’t use this option if you have young children with their own sandbox.)

There are many ways to deter cats from your garden without harming them or your garden. It may take several tries using multiple options to get the right solution for your yard.