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Cat Friendly Gardening

Published: 17th June 2008 20:31

Design By DH1 WebMedia

A Garden for your Pet Cat

Cats enjoy roaming around in gardens, investigation and getting into mischief. Why not set aside a piece of garden to bring pleasure to your cat(s).

We have two house cats, a Ragdoll and a Persian Chinchilla, that love to go out and play in the sun. We set aside a part of the garden to the rear of the house which would be 3/4 lawn and the rest a planted raised bed.

We cleared the area concerned by taking down half a dozen 15ft conifers, some of the trunks were retained to build a cat climbing frame. The stumps and roots were poisoned then covered with PVC then a layer of weed suppressing material.

The raised bed was constructed first using natural materials, soil and compost. We installed a water fountain which the cats drink from. Other items included timber, stepping stones, rocks and ornaments. Plant were sourced from a number of garden centres and planted out. The cats quickly took to the fragrant plants like lavender and the herbaceous mint, thyme and Basil. Some of the blooming plants attracted in insects - something for the cats to play with, apparently.

The soil for the lawn area was dug over and prepared for some new turf. The turf was unrolled and cut to size, within a couple of weeks the grass was growing, within a month the first cut was given on a high setting. The lawn is now well established and lush. The lawn also acts as a play pen with climbers and tunnels for the cats to explore.

Other ideas for your cats include planting out terracotta pots with herbs. Keep a lookout at gardening centres for large broken terracotta, buy them for a song, remove any sharp edges, place around the garden for your cats to explore or find shelter in.

The cats now cannot wait to be out and enjoying the freedom of the garden, although our Chinchilla Mikey, patrols around looking for and finding escape routes. See the adventures of Mikey in the Pets & Animals section to see the kinds of trouble he brings us.