My biggest problem is neighbour’s cats and dogs and no matter what I do, they are still there to haunt me. I have tried the sonic device and found a cat sitting in front of it, I could hear the device chirping non-stop but the cat probably had sussed that the battery would wear out if it kept it working long enough. I tried Coleus Canina (scaredy cat plant) and it didn’t work and my last resort was cocktail sticks round the plants so that if the little furry monsters dare dig up my patch, a cocktail stick in the rear end might just get the message to them. My new neighbour has eight cats, fortunately all trained to the litter tray.
I have an étegère at the side of the greenhouse since the plan is, if I can’t use any more space at ground level, I need to go upwards and the étegère is ideal to use troughs with strawberry plants in them. Unfortunately it’s little legs were sinking into the soil so I acquired broken slabs through Freecycle to support the legs and whilst I was huffing and puffing in moving them around, I looked round and two cats were sitting side by side at the edge of the pond watching. It was quite amusing seeing the ‘tennis match’ effect for where I went, their heads turned in unison, to follow. One of them is particularly friendly and is forever trying to come into the greenhouse when I’m there so I opened the door a little and put a potted Coleus Canina in front of it. It had a good sniff, turned away and came back for another sniff. We can get herbicides for weeds, pesticides for insects but nobody has been successful with felinicides for trespassing cats yet.
I try to block out every entrance to my garden, cats I can’t do much about but I still have trouble with my neighbour’s two dogs. One of them is as cute as a button, a small terrier which seems to take on the proportions of an elephant if she gets through all the barricades. The big dog follows the little one but I think her route is to jump the fences because there are times when in the greenhouse I look round and there they both are, tails wagging like fury. I do like animals, I would just prefer them to stay with their owners, who seem to be able to sit back and relax whilst their animals are running amok in my patch.
I bought a very large bag of hot chilli powder having complained to my neighbour several times about the dogs getting in an breaking my plants and getting nowhere. I was really getting annoyed and was prepared to declare war on the canine intruders. They too, ignored the sonar deterrents and I thought of putting the chilli powder down. If they tried to lick their little chilli paws, it might associate that red hot taste with a nasty place to go. I couldn’t do it, it would have been too cruel.
I don’t have trouble with my neighbour’s cats and I think the other cats of the district don’t come near now because of their presence. She has already adopted two abandoned cats but she just can’t take any more so the little white cat needs a better home than my garden. I even grew Catnip for them all, the apparent effects seems to be similar to marijuana, they get excited by it, but at least they know when to stop.
I have to concede, all the pest deterrents I have tried, don’t work, they are a waste of money, the best deterrent of all is a cat of your own, they will protect your territory as if it was their own.
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