How to Keep Cats Out of My Flower Beds

Cats are extremely independent and they generally walk and do their business wherever they want to, including your flower garden. There are several different ways you can keep cats out of flower beds. Some ways are simple while others are more complicated. Not all methods will work with every cat, so keep trying until you find what works with your particular independent feline.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Plant herbs in your flower bed that give off smells that cats don't like. Some good ones to try are lavender, absinthe, rue, geranium, lemon thyme, pennyroyal or a new hybrid called the "scaredy-cat plant," (Latin name Coleus canina).

2. Make your own repellent. Use 2 parts of cayenne pepper, 3 parts dry mustard and 5 parts flour. Mix together well. Sprinkle around the perimeter of your flower bed and in the flower bed itself.

3. Sprinkle a commercial product called Shake Away in the flower bed. This product is scented with the urine of animals cats are afraid of, such as foxes, coyotes and bobcats. It does not harm children, the cats, or the flowers.

4. Sprinkle sharp-edged pine cones in the garden; cats do not like to walk on or pick their way around or among sharp things.

5. Insert sticks vertically in the soil close together so they form spikes. Cats won't crouch down to do their business if there is no room to do so because there are spikes sticking up out of the ground.

6. Construct a small "sandbox" for the cats nearby and plant catnip in and around it to attract them. The cats may begin to see the area as their own and avoid your flower bed.

References

• Keep cats out of flower beds.