This winter I am having kitties in the greenhouse. 6 of them. 3 of them probably woudn't make it through our winter in the barn..........1 old and 2 are only 4 months old. Between the 6 of them they have found the dirt in the pots a most wonderful place to do their business. Never mind I have a huge litterbox made out of the cut-out bottom of a 55 gallon drum, and another "regular" litter box.

My sister brought me some planters down with her impatiens in that she cut back. She just wanted to see if they would winter over, and I won't charge her (might get a free haircut out of it as she's my cosmo gal). The ones that had good regrowth before I put the cats up there they have left alone. The others...........hmmmm...........not so much. I put my overtaxed brain to work and I came up with little hoop houses made of chicken wire and put together with zip ties. For the large pots I used some small-holed woven-type wire we had laying around. I've got the clients' pots done, just need to do mine that they bother. Ran out of wire, and it galls me to have to buy something to do a cobble-up job. LOL

They don't look pretty, but, hey, cheap and effective. I may have to reapply the tape, but it's pretty strong stuff; it's used to patch holes in silo bags. We have quite a bit of that stuff laying around. I think Gorilla tape would be the best, tho.

On my raised beds, I lay sections of cattle panels to keep the kitties out, especially when I've seeded or planted new seedlings. The bed framework holds it higher than the soil so it works o.k.

On pots, I use the wire grid basket on the coir hanging baskets, turned upside down and held in place with clamps. Looks cheesy but it works. I also have some old wire egg baskets that have been put to this use.

Love this idea and I'd say whatever works!

@pod, would LOVE to see some pictures....

Plastic forks work really well. Place them tong side up with handle in soil every few inches. It is the bare dirt that attracts them. Planting other plants, stones, forks, ect. would work. I had a large plant two years ago I overwintered on top of my fridge. One day the room started to stink like cat and I could not figure out why until I saw one of our kitties jump on the counter to the fridge and use my potted plant as his business station. They never jumped up there before and have not since. That bare soil just calls to them.

Yes, to the plastic forks... I think it was GymGirl in Houston that used bamboo skewers. I'd be afraid I would trip and impale myself.

Joanna, I'll have to look for photos or maybe get out tomorrow and take a picture. One that I still have on a container was on the catnip. That way they could browse what grew outside the wire grid. Didn't seem to work that way though. They reach in and dig while trying to get more of the catnip. I noticed the plant looked pretty grim this morning but that is o.k. That one is their plant.

Ummmm..............I did the plastic fork thing............they just scratched them out of the way and knocked them over and crapped in the pot anyway. It was just a "minor inconvienience" for them. And I had MANY of them close together in that pot. So, Plan B it was, and I used the wire.

I have a few more of mine to do and had run out of wire. When I was in Menards last week, I bought a 50 foot roll of that green plastic "fencing on a roll". I think that will be MUCH easier to work with to finish the job.

joannakat said:@pod, would LOVE to see some pictures....

Finally got out there in daylight and took a few photos. I'll post them here and hope AnnaZ won't mind...



That is the basket from a coir lined basket (sans coir) turned upside down. It was meant to keep the cats from destroying the catnip but you can see they have still managed to run their paws down in and molest the catnip.


In this raised bed I have multiplying onions and lettuce seedlings. I covered the lettuce to prevent cat/dog damage till they get established. The onions really don't still need protection. I'm just too lazy to remove the baskets.


This bed has just a few perennial herbs in it but the cattle panel laid over it prevents it from being a large litter box.

Well done! I'm giggling. I think you should put a hidden Nanny Cam in the greenhouse and post the video on YouTube, where it's sure to go viral.

Nothing I have tried has yet discouraged my kitties to run their nails through the soil or even eat some of the plants I occasionally moved outside. So everything stays inside where they can't be reached. I love all the ideas guys and gals, I am going to try some of those too. I have tried putting gravel or small stones on the soil, having more plants on one pot, the only plants they seem to keep them at bay are Cacti!

My cats don't try to eat the wrong plants when I give them some potted oat grass of their own. Most animals like it.

I have kept a pot of oat grass when we had an indoor cat. I don't think about planting it anymore but catnip is another story.

And why didn't I think of it before? I think this is a really great idea. Our cats do not really spoil our seedlings, but neighbor's animals usually do this! With the planting of new seedlings I will definitely try! Thanks!

One of my cats is quite naughty, so for this year's overwintering, I have to put my orchids in a pet cage. Instead of the cat in the cage, the orchids are in the cage, so she cannot munch on the orchid leaves. She really like blade-like shaped leaves, at times I know she is just playing with them really.

My Dracaena marginata, cannot fit inside the cage, so I have to separate it from the other plants and just let it hide inside the other bathroom, which thankfully has windows for natural light access.

For some of my outdoor plants, I got a mat of plastic spikes that I can put on top of the container. Thankfully this spiky mat is available quite cheap at the Daiso japanese stores so I have them here on standby as needed.