Neighborhood cats and food garden

[Katwoman]

Does anyone know of a safe way to keep neighborhood cats from using our garden as a litter box?

My DD1 wants to grow our own food next year. She's very excited and we're committed to learning as much as we can before we get started. All of a sudden I realized the neighborhood cats are going to be a problem. (We currently have to cover our sand box.) If we plant this garden my DD will be CRUSHED if we can't eat the food because of the cats.

Thank you!

[MidnightCommando]

get a dog??

on a more serious note, there are repellents you can buy that are usually made with citrus of pepper, both scents that most cats detest. you can also buy a motion activated sprinkler and I know for sure this works for all animals. I have one in the front of my house to keep the cats and roaming dogs from pooping on my lawn. I've also read that cats don't like walking on certain textures so you could look into that too. I put bamboo skewers in my house plants to keep my cats out of them but it might be too much to do in a bigger garden.

HTH!

[Katwoman]

Thank you for the help!

My DD would be all for the dog suggestion.

I really like the motion sensitive sprinkler system.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

You may want to ask serenetabbie. She wrote her mastergardener presentation on this exact subject.

[Maela]

: Our cats used our garden (during the winter when there was nothing but dirt) as a litter box. Now that there are plants they use the dirt near the garden. It does worry me, but we have still been eating: the veggies.

[Katwoman]

Originally Posted by MissMommyNiceNice

You may want to ask serenetabbie. She wrote her mastergardener presentation on this exact subject.

I pm'd her. Thanks for the suggestion.