Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all,
I'm plagued by cats entering my greenhouse and using my borders as a loo...does anyone know if a 'bead'/bamboo curtain across the door works as a deterrent? Anyone got any better suggestions? Thanks for any help

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If someone approaching you does not have a smile on their face...give them one of yours.

I am probably the wrong person to ask if you want something humane - the cats round here are driving me nuts. I've tried everything, and I am now thinking in terms of electric fencing, or a Doberman, or a machine gun

Would think that the bead curtain would work pretty well to all but the most determined of felines. I don't have the problem in my greenhouse but then I don't grow in beds and use grow bags and pots and there's no problems when my own cats curl up for a sleep - have far more problems with the cats cr&pping in the raised beds and that tends to be next door's moggies not my own!

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Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

A couple of ex racing greyhounds will solve your problem

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

You could try something like a line of pepper dust along the foot of the doorway. They will get fed up if they sneeze every time they go in!

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated September 29th - Bean drying.

apparently cats hate snakes, so you could plant a rubber snake or a section of old hosepipe ...

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I made a frame and stapled wire netting to it, when the door is open it just fits in the opening. Our cat used to come and go through a bead curtain over the kitchen door so I would not be convinced that it would be a preventative, it would also restrict air movement which is why the door is open in the first place is it not?

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Digger-07

"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right" Henry Ford.

........ Or get a Python

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Exactly what I would do Digger! Simple to make I would think!

If the greenhouse has a sliding door or door that opens outward, a hinged version opening inward would do!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I have one of those infra red detectors in my garden to keep cats off of their chosen place to make deposits. It works. You could place just in front of greenhouse door, you'd have to step over it but the cats wouldn't come near it, and you can then leave the door wide open. hth

I've been told that crushed up mothballs on the threshold will keep cats away, but I have yet to try the theory myself.

dam you must have a good eye and a steady hand

No that doesn't work....I've seen them holding their noses with their paws and jumping straight over the mothballs....

What about cricket balls????

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

I have exactly the same problem...three of them within 2 metres of rthe garden's boundaries. I've tried hiding, jumping out and hissing, but they jusrt look at me funny. Do those cat scarer electronic devices actually work and at what radius?

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Vegmonkey and the Mrs. - vegetable gardening in a small space in Cheltenham at www.vegmonkey.co.uk

12 bore is the best answer?

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

I have one cat and my neighbour has two and then there's always the odd one appears in the garden from goodness knows where.

The greenhouse is protected with a bit of chicken wire stood up against the open door, I haven't had a cat in my greenhouse since this went up.

The raised beds once planted up and mature will protect itself and until then I put garden canes in a criss cross pattern and this doesn't leaved the little darlings anywhere to scrap at the earth, so no more cat loo in the garden.

Hope someone else finds this helpful. I love my cat(Jasmine) and the one's next door (Jack and Jill) but I love my garden too.

Ogilvie

So if you've covered up all your beds with criss cross canes, where does 'your' cat do it's business?

There's a border plant which i'm sure is called Catnip!. It stinick when brushed and the scent stays on you. Cats are ment to hate it. It grows up to 5/6Inch and is avaliable from most garden centres.
Hope this helps
Leisa

Catnip isn't always successful either. I had a cat who used to sleep in the middle of it. As for a cat deterrent, we were having problems on the lottie with rabbits and cats. Then, over a period of about a week, 4 dead cats and about 30 dead rabbits were found, mostly at the bottom of my plot, some partly eaten. probably by a fox.
Then we heard that there was a guy locally breeding MINK. Guess what, one has escaped!!! I understand Ferrets are almost as good

I thought cats loved catnip - the plant is probably coleus canina (or scaredy cat). It doesn't really work though, and don't touch it or your hands will stink!