Keeping Cats Out!

The problem with the raised bed is that is a cat attractor.  Nothing wrong with attracting cats if you want them where they are being attracted.  Seeds, tiny plants, and digging cat paws don't mix well unless you don't care of the seeds and plants grow.

Since the cats live outside and the the bed is outside, but I am not outside all the time, I could see that it was going to be a challenge to keep the cats out of the bed.  I considered several options.  The first was to put some kind of net over the top of the bed.  That would work if I had the netting or the budget to purchase it.  The second was to get some plastic sheeting and use pvc hoops to cover the bed like I hoped to do over the winter anyway, but had the same problem as with the netting.  There had to be a better solution that was easy, free, and available. 

I was mulling over my options when I noticed the cats playing around but not in a pile of branches that had been deposited near the bed after we had chipped up the previous pile.  Perhaps if I piled them over the bed after it was planted, the cats would be deterred.

I think that the best part of having a garden is planting the seeds.  Your hopes and dreams of the harvest to come haven't yet been marred by disasters like drought, frost, and cats.

 I grabbed several packets of cool loving plant seeds and began marking out rows.  I started with green bunching onions, then planted beets, two kinds of chard, then two kinds of cauliflower, some Brussels sprouts and more beets.  I was actually about six weeks late planting the seeds, but it couldn't be helped.  After planting the seeds, I picked up a bunch of the branches and laid the over the bed criss-crossing them until there were no places big enough for a cat.  There were no leaves so the sun was easily able to penetrate the bed.

In a week, I saw the first leaves of my new plants.  The beets and chard were up first and the onions were last.  We had a lot of weeds pop up as well.  The morning glories are the worst, but they are easy to pull.  They were young and succulent and perfect for my new ducklings to nibble on.  They have also been sampling the lambs quarter, chickweed, ground ivy, and wild amaranth.  If truth be told many of those are edible for us too, but I prefer to let my birds enjoy them.

The little plants have come up too thickly in some places and I am considering thinning the rows and enjoying the micro-greens as part of a meal for the family.  I recently removed the branches because I need to cultivate the rows. and the cats have been leaving the plants alone until this morning.  The loose dirt in the rows was too enticing.  They don't like to dig in wet soil, so a good fertilizing with some manure tea could be just the thing.  If I have to, I'll put the branches back until the plants are larger.  This time, I'll have the branches hanging over the side more to discourage jumping up in the first place.  Bold, Snip, and Blaze are the worst for that.