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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Cats dig up my onions

Every time I plant onions the cats dig them up. This is a bit funny, I guess cats think onions smell bad so this must be the outside cat poop box. I am trying to find a CHEAP way to keep the cats out. I know I could spend a lot of money on screen wire, hardware cloth, etc. but there must be an easy low cost way to keep the cats out?

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hendi_alex
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Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

When the plants are up and growing, the cats don't visit the garden area. But when the dirt is loose, or is bare in the winter, the cats love to bury little treasures in that favorite bathroom area. I often set my unused tomato cages over the soil. Also have some unused flat sections of concrete reinforcing wire that is simply set on top of the area while plants are small. The cats don't go into the beds with the wire placed there. Of course my garden is mostly a series of defined blocks and raised beds. The cats don't bother the raised beds, perhaps because the growing medium contains almost no dirt. The other areas consist of eight, 4 x 6 blocks and are easy to cover. Don't know what I would do if they were a problem in a larger area. I'm sure that the cats poop in my in ground planting areas, but so far they have not bothered any plants. And of course the cleanup squad gets those tasty nuggets every time. Perhaps is the dachshund's favorite treat before coming to lick me in the face.

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applestar
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EEW! :lol:

OK, so far the score for your dachshunds:
+1 for groundHOG control
-1 for "chocolatey" kisses!

Gary350, I don't know what you were thinking about with those hardware cloths etc. but I've read that laying a 24" chickenwire FLAT ON THE GROUND in front of the beds keeps the cats out because they don't like to walk on them. So if you have any extras or maybe look for them on freecycle as people have often recommended on this forum.

My indoor cats, when they get to go on supervised romp outside, easily jump over the 24" rabbit fences around my garden beds (fortunately, they haven't figured out that they might do their businesses in the dirt -- too different from the kitty litter I guess, AND they're promptly removed from restricted areas anyway.)... For that matter, the strays/outdoor neighborhood cats scramble OVER my 5' backyard fence! My solution last year was to send out the kids to chase them out -- heck *I* run out and chase them out (OK, another point for dachshunds :wink: )
I plugged up every gap UNDER the fence trying to make it more difficult. We'll see how it goes this seeason.

I complained about the neighbor cats leaving messes in my garden last year and there followed some recommendations. I don't have time to look for the thread right now, but I think it was in the wildlife/animals forum.

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atascosa_tx
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Location: Atascosa

For about 40 bucks you can get a hotwire setup...that would keep em out.
Run it 4 inches up and 8 inches up. works for squirrels too.

Burnet
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Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest

I cover newly dug areas with floating row cover for a few days until they've been watered a couple of times and are less fluffy and appealing. I weight it down with rocks or secure it with ground staples.

If they attack it anyway once the row cover comes off, I'll also scatter thorny rose clippings, or just twiggy branches, over the ground, to tangle the cats and make the spot annoying for them.

Both of these, of course, depend on a fairly small planting area. Sadly, my vegetable garden is small enough that this isn't a problem. :)

Burnet

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I put all of my tomato cages over my garlic and onions and it has been great to keep the cats out. That was a great idea. Thanks for that suggestion.

I tried an electric fence wire about 10 years ago 4" from the ground. It killed 3 squirls and 2 black birds the very first day so I took it down. It might kill cats too.

Jan Davis
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Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:48 am
Location: Western Colorado

I place sections of hog wire, tomato cages, and assorted other fencing over fall tilled garden beds to keep the cats out - easy to pick up for spring tilling. After planting I put the fencing back until the plants are established - in some beds the fencing stays on all season - the trick I think is getting fencing material with holes large enough for plants to grow through and hands to get into for weeding! I also sprinkle ground black pepper in flower beds - I buy the biggest and cheapest container at Sam's Club. It's inexpensive catproofing where fencing isn't practical.
Good luck!



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