keeping cats out of my vegetables

Hi how can I stop cats using my growing area as a toilet? Its very off putting and I dont even know if the veg I grow will be ok to eat. Any suggestions please.

Keith

 

You probably will be ok eating it after the mess has been in the ground for certain amount of time. I could tell you about this parasite that can be transmitted from cat mess to vegetables but won't. It's an unnecessary worry, unless you're pregnant.

I've personally found that chucking branches on the bare soil helps immensely. I've been renovating my hedge the past few years and add these large branches over the bare soil for about a month or two. Cats like to have lots of bare soil to use as a toilet and if you deny them this then they will go off elsewhere. Cats won't go to the toilet on compacted soil either so in a month or two the soil protected by the branches is more compacted and the cats won't be interested. Also my local cats seem to hate wood ash which I chuck on the beds when they have been dug over. This only works until it rains though.

Other members will give you over tips and may disagree that my advice hasn't worked for them. So try as many as you can and find what works best for you.

 

Have a look Here Keith

 

Came home Saturday after a week away and just couldn't believe it when I found two 'deposits' on top of the fleece covering my main crop spuds

 

After several years of wrestling with the cat problem, and several failed and unsightly timber and chicken wire contraptions... I've finally stumbled across the holy grail of cat defence:

Cocktail sticks!!

The best ideas are always the simplest! This is working well for me this year in our containers. Not sure how it would hold up over a bigger bed though?

 

No 17 in the thread Zigs linked to above, works for me. Its all about marking territory. A human is bigger than a cat (unless you live near Bodmin then its questionable), and cats know it. They are generally reluctant to trespass on a larger animal's marked territory.

Also it saves having to pull your muddy boots off, trekking all the way through the house, then back again, then boots back on again every time you need a pee while working in the garden. Oh, and its excellent plant feed, and contrary to popular belief, it is completely sterile unless you happen to have one of a limited range of horrible diseases.

 

Just don't "mark" you territory in full sun or sight of the neighbours?

 

I nearly clicked 'Agree', but decided on 'Like' instead, because 'agree' isn't quite right. If the neighbours want to nosey into my garden then its their own fault what they might see

 

I had a similar issue but a flower bed not veg, (albeit no flowers in it yet so very inviting!) - I covered the whole bed in fleece and all kinds of junk; canes, pots, rubber snakes..no poo since! I heard they don't like mulches either (sensitive bums?) so I uncovered a section and put some bark chippings down, no poo there either yet but that might be because it wasn't in a prime location..