A cat in the gardencan present a pretty picture-but cats can also be serious garden pests.
Here are a few tips to help your garden and your cat coexist peacefully.
Plant a cat-friendly corner.
It may be effective to plant an area of your garden specifically designed to attract cats, with plenty of catnip, open soil and shade.
Get a motion-activated sprinkler.
Install a motion-activated sprinkler set to go off whenever it senses motion near your plants.
Protect young trees.
Cats love to scratch, and while mature trees can take it, younger trees are often damaged by kitty claws.
Clean up droppings.
Cats know where the bathroom is by the smell-and once they use your garden as a bathroom once, they're likely to keep doing it.
Replace cat smells with human smells.
Placing a jar containing orange peels, vinegar, coffee grounds or moth balls around your garden obscures the scent of cat droppings.
Put screens over vegetables.
Cats love to leave droppings in gardens.
And that's the last thing you want to find in among your lettuce and carrots.
Stop cats from digging.
Cats love to dig.
Keep your kitty from digging up your garden by mulching exposed soil as soon as you can.
Use a fence.
If you want to keep cats out of your garden entirely, the only surefire way is to put a fence around it-and even then, it may not be completely effective.
Cats can be a nuisance in the garden.
But it's possible to reduce the damage they cause by taking a few steps to discourage them from damaging behavior.
If you do this, you have a chance of letting your cat enjoy your garden without damaging it.