Are you struggling with neighborhood cats coming into your tiny home garden? In this short guide, we explain how you can keep them away safely.
When you have successfully established a garden for your tiny home, it can seem like a blessing. You can have a supply of vegetables to feed yourself, and attract native birds that help the natural environment and enhance the natural beauty of your outdoor space. Or perhaps you prefer flowers, and have a flower bed that is the envy of your friends.
However, when it comes to the neighborhood cats, they may decide your garden makes for a lovely toilet and scare away the native birds and lizards. If you’re struggling to find a way to keep cats away, consider including plants that cats don’t like into your tiny home garden or cottage garden plan.
Use Plants to Keep Cats Out of Your Garden
Best Plants to Keep Cats Away
Citronella
Citronella smells offensive to cats. They don’t like it, and the plant itself can grow up to six feet tall. It has small yellow flowers that actually have spikes on the leaves. So if a wayward kitty does attempt to step past them, it will find the touch of the leaves very uncomfortable. Even better, the leaves of this plant can actually be used for making tea. So not only do you get a cat repellant, but you also get some tea in the mix as well!
Citrus Trees
Cats and dogs don’t like the smell of citrus. Citrus is actually poisonous to cats (but the smell won’t hurt them!) and if they catch a whiff of it will stay far away. You can actually buy dwarf versions of these trees. The dwarf versions grow to 12 feet tall, and bear fruit. Once the fruit grows you can pick it, and scatter the peelings around your garden. Even better, the trees themselves actually give off a strong, citrus scent when they start to bear fruit. So planting a garden behind or between two of these trees will help to keep your garden safe.
Rue
Rue is a shrub that can grow up to three feet tall. It’s of the blue-green evergreen variety, and it does enjoy having quite a bit of sun shine down on it. The plant can grow under shade or just full sun altogether. There’s an odor to the shrub that both dogs and cats don’t like. The feel of the plant is also not pleasant to cats, so they will avoid it. Just be careful not to plant this near basil. Other than that, two or three hedges at intervals around your garden will help to protect it from the neighborhood cats.
Scaredy Cat Plant (or Coleus Canina)
This plant reaches a whopping 18 inches tall, so you can use it as a natural border around your garden. The smell of the plant repels dogs and cats who find it unpleasant. People cannot actually detect the smell unless they crush the leaves themselves. Just plant this about three feet apart around your garden, and you’ll be good to go.
There are many excellent ways to make sure the neighborhood cats stay out of your tiny home or cottage garden. Even better, it’s in safe, natural ways that does not harm them! A mixture of these plants, or even just choosing one or two will make sure your garden remains safe without having to resort to chemicals.
