I have an ongoing war with the cats in our townhouse complex. This is a quiet and relatively peaceful war. It mostly involves cat pee, with the occasional #2 added in there for good effect. Yes, there are cats in my vegetable garden, and I want them out.
Only one of the cats is my cat. In our complex, we have a high cat-to-garden-space ratio, with nine cats in a space half the size of a standard garden. No wonder there are marking wars, and no wonder they occur in my garden.
What’s a gardener to do? I’ve tried the Scarecrow, a handy little device that sprays water when it detects motion. Unfortunately, it also sprays my neighbors when they walk by their fence, and it also sprays the neighborhood children. Entertaining, but not necessarily socially appropriate. Besides, I hang my laundry outside and I don’t want it to get wet.
Next we tried a low fence around the garden. Cats jump. End of story.
Last year, we added a plastic mesh on top of the garden. Wonderful idea, no cats in sight, clean vegetables. However, I had to crawl through my vegetable garden to harvest the vegetables, so this cut down on my enthusiasm for gardening.
This year, I placed a thick mesh screen around and over the garden. The cats are getting in again, working their way through the connections in the screen. They’re also jumping in off the neighbor’s fence. You’d think that my vegetable garden was party central. Perhaps they’re just up for a challenge.
I think that we may need to relent and get a greenhouse. Or a dog. My next plan is tall lattices, but like the screen these will add shade to the garden, making my somewhat shady vegetable garden irreparably shady. I garden without chemicals, so chemical solutions are not for me. However, I don’t want cat pee on my vegetables either.
Do you have any ways to keep cats out of your garden?
(Image courtesy of cocoalily at stock exchange)