Thanks for the great idea , I have 4 cats and sometimes gardening can get frustrating . By the way pretty kitty

Good idea. Be aware, however, that some of those plastic ties, zip ties, do not hold up in sunlight for more than one year. We found out the hard way.....

Great idea, and nice explanation of the execution, too. I think I'd have to use a finer mesh than bird netting though.

Problem I had with bird netting is snakes. Our native (non-venomous) black racers have small heads and fatter bodies, and they were immensely attracted to the bird netting when I put it over my lychee tree one summer. They'd put their heads through a hole then get stuck when the hole was not big enough for the body. In 2 days I found two dead snakes and one I was able to save (but boy! was he mad!). I like having the snakes around as they keep the rodent population including the infernal squirrels under control.

Probably you don't have many snakes, since you have lots of cats in the neighborhood, but do keep your eye out for this problem? It's possible that a double layer of netting with the holes not aligned might keep them from pushing their heads through. I just had to give up on using the bird netting altogether. Even when I had rolled it up and put it away, another snake found it, but again he was easy to disentangle. Must be the smell of it or something .... ?

That is so interesting Elaine, we too have had problems with black snakes and bird netting as have several of my neighbors. Now I am really curious what is attracting them to the netting.

I'm going to try this with chicken wire to keep my big Lab from wallowing in my newly planted flower beds.

I use something similar, only I use treated 2x2's and a staple gun.

It sounds like that orange web flexible plastic that is called "snow fencing" or "construction barrier fencing" might serve as well if the fence posts would keep it taut. It's made with several different sizes of openings, and many are big enough to admit small critters, toads and snakes --- I love nonpoisonous snakes --- but would keep out adult cats. The only thing to worry about would be something small falling through the holes and not being able to figure out how to get out. I'm thinking of toads and kittens, primarily. Snakes and chipmunks should have no problem with the larger mesh sizes.
I Googled "snow fence" and only looked at one seller, but I saw enough to believe it would work. They even sell something called a "slotted T-post" which might do the job of the original chain link posts IF they are heavy enough to hold the mesh taut, and eliminate the need to tie the webbing to the posts. (I keep envisioning kitty trampolines, for some reason!)
The fencing comes with several size openings, in different widths (4ft and 6 ft) and lengths, and even in inoffensive colors, like black and green. So it would work with a bed four feet wide, but not three. Anyway, it's something to think about.
(I don't remember if I'm allowed to post a link, so if I'm NOT, please remove it.)
http://www.discountfence.com/s...

I've laid squares of chicken wire over recently-sown beds. I don't think cats like the way it feels on their feet, or they get tangled. I try to prop it up on the surrounding raised bed walls to keep seedlings from getting tangled. The bricks were intended to keep squirels out, but I think it only works if they have plenty of other things to eat.



The holes are hexagons around 1" across, so maybe that would be too small to catch snakes?

I also tried laying down a criss-cross of thin bamboo culms and thorny twigs, but they were just decorations on the catbox: