Eurgh Gross...

[AmyRose]

....CATS!

Moved into my house last Sep, got it due to the garden size, its huge....exactly what i wanted

Havent done much with the garden, focused on getting the house sorted first.
Went for a walk round the garden this morning (to make sure my plans fit)

and it was like a ****** cat mine field!

Poo everywhere!

Any ideas on how to keep them out?

Cheers

[Munch]

Get a dog! lol

[brad1001]

when we bought this house a little while ago the neighbours on both sides have cats and the garden was full of there mess.i tried everything from cat spikes on the fence to those electronic deterants and nothing worked.
i evan bought one of those large water pistol guns and blasted them with water when one came in.
i dug a large koi pond last summer and next doors cat was nipping over and trying to get to the fish.
anyway in the end i gave up and we decided to get a dog for the family.
i bought a little jack russell pup.
when ole tiddles jumped over one day out flew the dog.
neadless to say....no more cats.

[brad1001]

and thank god that worked as the next step was a shot gun...lol

[AmyRose]

LOL @ blasting them with water guns

I work 8 hours a day and would feel sooo guilty leaving a little dog on its own all that time....do you think if i 'lent' my mums 2 dogs every now and then the scent would scare them off

or do you think they would realise i was trying to trick them?

Thanks! x

[Suky]

Get a cat of your own
It is probably worse if you have had snow as some cats, mine included, scraped holes in the snow to use when they couldn't get to the soil. And, before anyone comments, Milo will NOT use a litter tray. Apparently, 'Real Cats' don't! Well, that's what the look on his face tells me

To deter them when you have crops try a garlic spray. There is a thread somewhere about making one and it does work, Milo certainly hates the stuff.

[SarzWix]

Our allotments seem to have a few resident cats and they always make a beeline for newly dug beds Best thing I've found to keep them off is to keep lots of pieces of chicken wire handy, along with old wire shelves from 'blowaway' greenhouses etc, and just cover any bare soil with them. Once things are growing they're less likely to bother.

Also, and this might not appeal to you for obvious reasons (!), keep a patch that you don't mind them going in - I have a patch behind some shrubs in the back garden that I chuck used compost on and they seem to concentrate their efforts there and leave the rest alone. Bit grim, and you'd have to keep any children away from it, but it does work...

(Obviously, we DO NOT condone violence or anything which may injure or harm any domestic animal...)

[FionaH]

Borrowing a dog might work. You could try Silent Roar, a nitrogen based cat deterrant. Many customers at the garden centre I work at swear by it.
There are loads of threads on the Vine about cats, try the search function.

[FionaH]

(Obviously, we DO NOT condone violence or anything which may injure or harm any domestic animal...)

Agreed.

Also please be aware that if you really upset a cat, it is quite capable of eating you while you sleep

[brad1001]

anythings worth a try.
theres numerous bits on the market that claim to deter cats.my friend swears by c.ds strung up on sticks inbetween his plants.the idea is the wind catches them and they frieghten the cats of with the glinting light.
someone else said to me he she bought one of those black metal cat replicas.the ones with the shiney eyes that you stake in the ground.apparently there meant to work.

[AmyRose]

Thanks all, ill have a look round see what i can find!

Much appreciated x

[SarahStrawberry]

I've heard that scattering orange and lemon peel around keeps them out because they don't like citrus but I haven't tried it because we have a cat (who doesn't poo in the garden, thankfully)

[Aberdeenplotter]

Get a dog! lol

on the contrary, get a cat of your own. They seem to prefer to use other people's gardens and don't mess their own whilst at the same time keeping other cats off their property.

[northepaul]

I had a similar problem when I moved in about a year ago -next door has 13 cats!!
They particularly went for the newly dug soil, and seems partial to my front garden patch around my ornamental cherry tree, even after putting bark around (which I was told would keep them out).
I found keeping the bark a bit damp helped, and when I cut some of my rose bushes down/back, I used some particularly nasty thorny branches as 'cover' for the beds - no problem now, unless I forget to 'cover' anything I dig

[Jono]

on the contrary, get a cat of your own. They seem to prefer to use other people's gardens and don't mess their own whilst at the same time keeping other cats off their property.

Can vouch for this. Next door have four cats, and they're always about but never come in to our garden. Mind you, still leaves my cat's mess to clear up!