Finally!!!!!

Well, after weeks of rain there was a two day break in the weather and I was able to plant tomatoes. And I noticed that my fava beans plants, which you see in the planting box to the right, actually have bean pods on them.  Great!  I also knew that as soon as the tomatoes were planted, every cat in the neighborhood began making plans to use my planter box as a litter pan. The number one culprit is my own Upsie. She loves nothing more than taking a dump next to a tomato plant.  So, for the past 9 years since Bob made the redwood planter boxes for me, I have waged a battle to keep  cats out of them.

As soon as Upsie saw us turning soil in the planter, she stationed herself right in the middle of the action, so she could make sure we were doing it to her satisfaction.

Over the years I've tried many different systems. One method that worked well was erecting a plastic mesh fence around the boxes. The above picture is from two years ago and shows how Upsie, and all the other neighborhood cats, were forced to stand on the rim of the planter and look longingly at the soil through the fence, to no avail.  However, I disliked that system because it was very inconvenient dealing with the fence when I wanted to harvest my veggies.

So, last year I took the fence down and cut some of it into strips to lay on the soil. It ruins the cat's fun when they try to dig a hole in the soil to do their business. So far, so good.  I'm sure they will call a meeting and brainstorm a way to get around this.

Comments

[Kristi]

Wow! What a beautiful garden you have there. I am so jealous! Poor Upsie. Cats sometimes have a hard time realizing that the entirety of the outside world isn't their own personal litter box.

[s'kat]

I understand the constant battle between the box and the cats, but it looks like you've come up with a pretty good solution.

Lovely looking garden! We got our tomato plants in this weekend, as well.

[sher]

Kristi and S'kat,

Thank you for you comments about the garden. For years I lived in a townhouse with a postage stamp backyard and I had to grow my veggies at the local community garden. I dreamed of having my own plot in a real backyard. So, I try not to get mad at the cats, now that I have my little garden. But, sometimes it's hard not to scream at them as they uproot plants and leave their "gifts" in the planter box! :)

[kalyn]

I am so jealous. Right now I am way too distracted to get my garden started.

[sher]

Kalyn,

But, you have really nice distractions-right? :):) Like a nice trip? :) Who cares about plants!

[Shannon]

Sher, I was just listening to a local NPR-station gardening show with the question about how to keep cats out of the garden. Your wire mesh idea was the number one solution! Since we have this feral cat family in our backyard all the time, I will be doing this soon as well. Please keep us posted and let us know if you encounter any sneaky cat problems with this, however!

[sher]

Shannon,

I tried all kinds of methods and putting a "fence" up was the best solution. And it can't be a short one. As any cat person knows, they can leap tall buildings in a single bound. But, it's a real pain to deal with a fence if you need to get to your veggies. I think if a person has enough room they could put up a permanent fence around a planting area and walk into the fenced off area to work the garden. But, mine wasn't like that. I'm hoping the plastic mesh works on the ground. I'll let you know. Of course, a border collie would probably solve the problem too!

[Céline]

Your cat is so inquisitive!
Fresh tomatoes from the garden are just so delicious. Your plants are small but in a few months they'll be as tall as the bean stalk in Jack and the giant bean stalk.
You're lucky, it's fall over here in the Southern Hemisphere, the only things I can harvest in my garden are dead leaves and snails.

[sher]

Celine!

It's so good to hear from you. I've missed you on your site. Yes, I'm so looking forward to the tomatoes.