So, ever since my ancient calico cat, Patsy, went off to the great beyond I’ve been plagued by neighborhood cats who think my nicely turned and raked raised beds are big litter boxes. Ugh.
Last year I tried cayenne sprinkled on the beds, and finally resorted to draping them all in tree netting. Which was fine, but as the plants grew up through it, it became a pain in the neck.
So this year, I went for more drastic measures. I ordered this fabulous sprinkler scarecrow from Amazon. You hook it up to the hose, and set the sensitivity level, and if anything comes near it it explodes with a blast of tat-tat-tat water and noise. The first night, clearly, I set it up facing the wrong direction and didn’t make it sensitive enough, because the next morning there was a gross horrible disgusting pile of catshit in one of the beds. So I moved it to face the back of the property, toward the alley from which the cat clearly enters my yard, and yesterday morning there were tracks, then a divot where the cat fled, but no cat crap. And this morning — nothing! Pristine garden beds with tiny seedlings growing in them. I love my sprinkler scarecrow!(Apparently they’re also pretty successful for folks who have deer issues.)
The next use for this fabulous device is going to be as a dog training aid — Raymond and George next door have an annoying game they play where they indulge in Very Fierce Barking through the gap in the fence. I think little motion-detector water should solve that, as well as the issue we have when I’m having a peaceful glass of wine on my front porch in the evening, and Raymond thinks he needs to rush back and forth along the picket fence barking at anyone who passes by — like I said. I love my sprinkler scarecrow.
apparently cats hate orange or citrus peel – bury it in the beds. You have to renew it every few months though
I’d heard that about orange peel too
You’d have to consume a lot of citrus for a large garden though the vitamin input would be healthy!
Last year I tried everything — cayenne, orange, mothballs — and I still wound up with poo in the garden. So far, the scarecrow is working like a charm — and it’s also proving to be a pretty good dog training tool — I set it up yesterday over where my Raymond and George next door tend to get barky at one another, and after the first blast, we all spent a peaceful day in the backyard. Yay!
This thing looks hilarious! Effective as well, but I might get one and set it up in front of the windows just to watch the deer scatter. Yeah, I’m the kind of person who chases pigeons on the sidewalk for kicks… 🙂
I have one of these now after I tried every so called old wives remedies and this water scarecrow is the only thing that works.