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5 Natural Ways to Keep Cats Out of Your Garden Without Harming Them

Kitty Boy Floyd

Image Credit:
Robin Sweetser
Written By: Robin Sweetser Gardener

Cats can be adorable companions, but when they start digging in your flower beds or vegetable garden, frustration quickly follows. Instead of turning to harmful chemicals or traps, there are plenty of natural ways to keep your garden safe while respecting your feline friends. From clever barriers and scents to cat-repelling plants and motion-activated sprinklers, you can protect your seedlings and flowers without hurting your curious kitties.

My cat “Kitty Boy Floyd” can be useful to have around the garden, keeping unwanted rodents at bay, but he can be destructive as well. 

My cat loves to dig in the soft dirt, especially after I have planted some tender seedlings, and just the thought of cat poop in the vegetable beds makes me nauseous. Not only disgusting, but it can also harbor many harmful pathogens and parasites. 

Kitty Boy Floyd cat in the garden
Kitty Boy Floyd, my furry friend, in the garden.

Natural Ways to Keep Cats Away

Barriers and Fences

Wire - Freshly turned soil is very appealing as a litter box, so we have found that laying down chicken wire, plastic fencing, or even bird netting on top of the soil keeps him from digging. He won’t even walk on it. It is easier to do it before planting and just clip the wire to make larger holes for the plants. It can be covered with mulch to make it look more pleasing.

wire netting to cat-proof a garden
After catching Kitty Boy Floyd digging up my newly planted onions, we covered the bed with plastic fencing.

Row Covers - We use a lot of row covers on our plants and have found that if they are well anchored, he stays out of those beds; otherwise we often find him taking a catnap in the warm, protected environment the covers offer.

Fences - It is hard to fence cats out. The fence needs to be very tall with a floppy top so they can’t land on it. It must also be buried at the bottom so they can’t sneak under. It can be an expensive but effective solution.

Mulch and Rough Surfaces

Cats dislike stepping on rough or prickly surfaces so try scattering pinecones, brush or twigs over the surface of the soil. Thorny clippings from roses, holly, or raspberries are especially effective but will also prick you, so wear gloves. Rough mulches like coarse wood chips or stones are hard for cats to dig in.

Water Deterrents and Motion Sprinklers

Cats like dry soil, so keep yours moist to make it less inviting. Or go one step further and squirt them with a hose if you catch them in the act. 

If neighborhood cats are sneaking in at night, try a motion-activated sprinkler. They’ll soon get the message!

Cat-Repelling Plants and Sprays

Cats have sensitive noses, and strong smells can act as deterrents. Citrus is not a feline favorite—so next time you eat an orange or squeeze a lemon, cut up the peels and spread them around the area you want the cats to avoid. 

Sprays made from citrus, citronella, lavender, peppermint, lemongrass, or rosemary oil mixed with water can be applied to those areas as well. Vinegar, hot pepper, or garlic sprays may have some effect too. Don’t use mothballs because they are toxic to you and the cats. Urine deterrents should be avoided since they just provoke male cats into spraying over them to mark their territory.

Instead of making sprays, you can grow cat-repelling plants such as rosemary, lemon thyme, rue, lavender, or Russian sage. Or you can sprinkle the dried leaves of these plants around the spots you are trying to protect. Plants with prickly leaves like sea holly or globe thistle may deter them, too. Look for Coleus canina, called the scaredy cat plant; it is said to be very effective at keeping cats away.

Creating a Cat-Friendly Area Elsewhere

To keep kitty out of the flowerbed, why not try giving him a place of his own—preferably on the other side of the yard, away from your precious plants. Cats will be drawn to catnip or valerian plants. If you construct an outdoor litter box filled with dry sand for them to dig in, they just might make use of it and leave your garden alone.

Orange cat lying in a plant pot
Another furry friend who’s decided this is “her” pot.

Love your kitty? Find out how old your cat is in human years with our Cat Age Calculator.

Do you have any furry friends causing chaos in the garden? Please share your experiences!

And see our article about how to keep certain troublesome birds away from the garden!

Garden Pests

About The Author

Robin Sweetser

Robin Sweetser

Gardener

Robin Sweetser is a longtime gardening writer, editor, and speaker. She and her partner, Tom, have a small greenhouse business, selling plants and cutting flowers and vegetables from their home and lo...

Read more from Robin Sweetser

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Comments

<span>Joe</span> Sat, 06/17/2023 - 08:05
If you read the story, the author has a cat. Lighten up you beta.
<span>Edith</span> Sun, 05/21/2023 - 07:57
Why the hell do I want cats in my garden? I am trying to grow vegetables without them kiling my plants and pooping and spraying all over the place without my hitting them on the head with a shovel or shooting them. I have a cat and she stays in the house. Why would I want her outside to bring fleas and ticks back into my home? You are a silly no-brainer nut.
<span>Andi</span> Sun, 05/14/2023 - 14:54
Cat people, ugg. Read the article before you comment. Its about keeping’s them from pooping in your veggie garden. Also my dog has to be on a leash and would end up euthanized or in the pound if it jumped a fence into your backyard to poop but its perfectly okay for you to let your cat do it? Thats a huge double standard . Especially when you know the stats about how cats have effected bird populations and other small mammals like the Western Fishers in Washington state. They aren't indigenous yet they are free to roam and screw up ecosystems. They are predators, possibly cute in your opinion, but still a predator. Look up the havoc they have wrecked in Australia with many of the smaller marsupial populations. I don’t hate your cat but I don’t want it in my yard , and pooping its toxic and often parasitic poop in my veggie garden. So maybe more reading less commenting on things you haven’t read. Also none of these suggestions in this article are harmful to your obnoxious cat.
<span>Addie</span> Tue, 05/09/2023 - 13:51
Chill out dude nobody's saying they're going to hurt a cat it's just another way to keep cats from pooping in your garden because their poop is just ridiculously smelly calm down
<span>Sherry</span> Sat, 11/19/2022 - 07:54
I have a cat that I love but it does not wander she is leashed as well as my dog. I work hard on my flower and do not want it used as a flower bed. Keep your cats home as they are your not mine.
<span>Liz</span> Sun, 10/02/2022 - 12:20
Because they dig up flower beds and spray flowers and kill them and dig up around bushes and kill them as well! I love cats but don’t have any or so I want them in my flower beds or around my bushes or deck spraying things!
<span>Joe Biden</span> Fri, 09/09/2022 - 14:39
We got two Pitbulls red nose, and a Chinese restaurant that opened about 3 years ago nearby... We haven't seen a cat around our property in a looooong time, is like they all disappeared.
<span>Jerry Bradberry</span> Sun, 06/16/2024 - 12:48
cats in a garden a 22 stops that
<span>Reb</span> Mon, 07/27/2026 - 21:38
Yeah it works on asshole people too.
<span>Bruce H.</span> Sun, 06/19/2022 - 12:51
Tale of two kitties: Scamp vs. Tiki We adopted a big ol' barn kitten we named 'Scamp.' As he grew, we realized that hunting gophers was one of his favorite things. For all the time we had him (14 years), I never had a gopher in my garden. One time I noticed that a gopher had dug a new hole right at the fence line. As a joke, I picked Scamp up and put him by the hole. Ten minutes later he was back with the gopher. What a cat. Now we have Tiki. He is a purebred Ragdoll, and considers gophers to be his best friends. He would no more harm a gopher than he would consider making a Rottweiler his best friend. If he sees a gopher, he runs the other way. He also likes to use the garden as his litter box, so I tend to keep him away from it, tethering him to other parts of the yard. I also in the past have roto-tilled him his own litter box away from the garden, but he prefers the garden. So for growing season, Tiki is catsona non-grata around the garden.