How to Deal with Cats in the SFQ

After I had assembled and filled up my SFG for the first time, I realized that it resembled a giant kitty litter box. As we have a very large tabby cat that prowls our yard looking for songbirds and wallowing in our plants in the flower garden, I thought of a possible solution to the problem. We have used the smelly products that repel cats, dogs, and rabbits, but they proved ineffective. A hard rain washes away the odor. By accident, I ran across bird netting at the local nursery and decided to buy some to see if it would help. I stretched the netting across the 4 x 4 frame and held the ends down with four metal spikes with crooks at one end, to keep it secured in the ground. I left a lot of slack at one end to accommodate the plants as they grow taller. I am keeping the netting on the garden all the time. It is green and is almost invisible. So far it is working perfectly, as the cat is keeping its distance. I suspect it is afraid it might entangle its paws in the fine mesh. When it is time to mow, I take up the netting, put it aside, and reinstall it when I am finished. It is easy to water right through the netting.

I can see some disadvantages. Songbirds could become entangled in the netting and die, and the birds will not be free to eat the bugs and caterpillars. So far no bird has become trapped by the netting, and I suppose I could pick the caterpillars off by hand. I would rather do that than have the entire SFG destroyed after all that work.

I found a 3 foot snake that got tangled in mine.. It was dead... it was not pleasant to remove.. but it did stop the birds that were ravaging my tomatoes !!

You can try some cheap fencing deterrent too. This fencing was installed upside down and stapled to the bed. Then the parts that go into the ground were bent outwards to discourage cats.

I've heard that cats don't like to step on pointy surfaces, specifically that artificial grass stuff you see in door mats a lot, with @ 1.5 inch pile. You could try laying a wide strip of that around your beds..

I actually found a plant at the Wal-mart nursery once that said it would keep away cats and bunnies, it was called stinky coleous, and was it ever ! smelled just like skunk ! I mean just like it ! I was desperate cause of the cats in the neighborhood. It really kept them out ! I planted it on the outside cause if you even brush up against it you smell like skunk. It spread and I cut it back and used some of the clippings in my boxes. Don't have it anymore though, it eventually died out but I think my boxes are safe, so far so good , maybe just the memory of it is keeping them away!

Just read this thread and it made me smile. One of our cats (they are indoor-only) has a little problem with inappropriate potty habits. I brought home a worn-out chair mat from work (the heavy plastic kind which has spikes on the bottom to keep it in place) with the idea that this would make a great deterrent. Well, we forgot that this is one WEIRD cat. I left the mat in the hallway prior to installing it where it needed to go, and we found him all curled up on it, smiling away....

(argh!!!)