Saturday, May 17, 2008

Cats in the garden

Our cat keeps digging up my seedlings, I've tried everything to stop her. It's the lettuces that are suffering the most as they just get uprooted so easily. I've tried pellets, my next plan of attack is orange peel(I've heard they don't like the smell) and cocktail sticks stuck in the soil at regular intervals. I don't really know what else to do. I put a chicken wire fence up to keep our old cat Isla off, but Malley just jumps over it.
Here are the newest set of pictures of my little vegetable garden. April and May are my favourite months out in the garden, I like the way everything noticeably grows and looks different every day.
Here are my dwarf french beans, red onions, lettuce, and somewhere in there are carrot and spring onion seedlings, which don't stand a chance against the paws of Malley.


I have some distinctly strawberry shaped lumps.


My tomatoes are out and alive(I murdered the first lot in the greenhouse. I hang my head in shame).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just popped over from KW's...

Have you tried holly? We've always found that short pieces of branch with their pricky leaves leaves stop any cat scratching.

Laney said...

Ooooh, thanks for that tip, I'll have to give it a try. I went out there this morning and she's dug up my spring oinon seedlings...grrrr.

Anonymous said...

Holly should work, they really don't like the prickly bits. If you can't get any, sprigs from pine trees might do the same trick.

I read somewhere that lion dung puts them off, but I have no idea were you would get any LOL

BTW I have moved my blog to a new home, the link should be above this comment.

Laney said...

Kate, it's good to see you, I wondered where your blog has dissapeared to!

I've heard about the lion poo too, I think the local zoos sell it for a tidy profit.

Anonymous said...

I've just joined a kitchen gardeners community on Ning and there is a post on the front page about deterring cats. Some of the ideas sound a bit brutal, but there are few good tips. The url is http://www.kitchengardeners.org/ you should be able to see it without registering, but if you can't let me know and I'll send it to you.