Is This Non-Toxic Solution For Keeping Cats Out Of Your Garden Beds A Good Idea?

When considering animals that might be disruptive in your garden, you might think of squirrels and other rodents, as well as deer and raccoons. Cats can also cause trouble from time to time, as they can mess with your plants, use garden beds as makeshift litter boxes, and even hunt songbirds. While such problems can exist with indoor-outdoor cats of your own, they can be even more challenging to control when you're dealing with outdoor cats that don't belong to you. Feline management around your garden beds isn't impossible, though. It's worth exploring a variety of ways you can keep cats out of your raised garden bed as well as other outdoor areas you don't want them hanging around. You may even be able to help deter cats with balled-up sticky tape that acts as a barrier. This non-toxic solution is a good idea so long as it's strategically placed and is used as part of an overall cat prevention plan.

Sticky tape is one non-toxic method that may be a good way to help manage unwanted cats around your outdoor spaces. For best results, though, you may want to use tape along with other safe ways to keep outdoor cats out of your garden beds. Examples include motion-activated sprinkler systems, rough-textured mulch in garden beds, and chicken wire fencing to protect seedlings and plants. It also helps to keep compost piles covered so that cats aren't attracted to any food scraps. Remove other things around your garden that might attract feline visitors, such as pet food and water bowls. It's also wise not to plant catnip plants in the area. Collectively, these cat management strategies may make the tape ball method more effective deterrents.

It's possible that this balled-up tape method may work to prevent unwanted feline visitors from coming to garden beds. Tape is one of many materials cats detest because of the way it feels on their paws. Once they encounter the stickiness of the tape, they might possibly avoid the area altogether. The off-putting texture may have similar effects to other non-toxic deterrents, such as keeping stray cats out of your garden with aluminum foil. As a bonus, the tape will not harm cats, so you can feel good about using it to protect your garden from feral or neighborhood cats, or perhaps cats of your own. The tape balls may annoy the cats that encounter them (but really, when it comes to cats, what else is new). Double-sided tape is perhaps the easiest to use, but you can also use duct tape or masking tape and roll these into ball-shaped forms with the sticky sides facing out.

For best results, you might consider making a perimeter with the tape to act as a sort of barrier against the cats. Think of places such as the exterior around your garden beds, and even on the tops of fences any cats might attempt to climb over into your yard spaces. Also know that no single cat deterrent can be 100% effective, which is why using multiple methods may help increase your chances of reducing feline visitors more generally. You can try out the tape ball method and if any problem cats outsmart it or learn to adapt to the barrier, consider moving on to something else.