Cats always use bare earth in which to do their toilet duties in the absence of cat litter. A cat wouldn't even notice a few sprouting seedlings you so carefully planted, but which they ruin with their claws as they dig them up as well as the dirt they use to cover over their crap.
If you having a problem with cats in your home vegetable garden consider buying some plants that are known cat repellents.
Catnip Plants
1. Curry Plant - This plant grows wild in the Mediterranean area (nothing more than a nuisance). This plant has a strong smell, but has no culinary uses at all. It is a frost tender perennial that is known to deter cats, who dislike the smell.
The curry plant is a member of the daisy family.
However, I would highly advise against planting this plant unless you have a severe problem with cats as it will just become another difficult weed to remove from your home vegetable garden long after the cats have left well alone.
On the other hand, this plant has some medicinal uses, one of them being soothing sunburn, and/or reducing inflammation and healing infections.
2. Scaredy-cat plant - coleus canina - unfortunately, this plant's name makes a mockery of the word scaredy. Truthfully, the plant does smell a bit of dog pee, which is just what every gardener wants in their garden isn't it?
It is supposed to deter both cats and dogs but this only works on those animals with a sense of smell.
Use this test to determine if this plant and the curry plant work: If catnip works on the cats that are visiting your vegetable garden, then both the curry plant and the scaredy-cat plant will work too.
A note to keep in mind: cats will just walk round these plants and go to another part of the garden, so if you want to protect young seedlings from being scratched up by cats, then you will want to plant a ring of cat deterrent plants around your growing area. Cats can jump over them (simple, right?).
3. Lavender - due to the fact that lavender can grow quite shrubby, plant them in a line as a deterrent to stop the cat wandering further into your vegetable garden.
Look for a tall growing variety to be the most effective against cats. Because cats are inquisitive creatures, but like the assurance of seeing what it is they are getting into, if you grow your lavender plants taller than a cat to block their line of sight you are on your way to success!
4. Rosemary - grows wild in the Mediterranean area and is useful in cooking.
This is a woody perennial, so it will re-grow each year after planting, and has a sweet fragrance.
The only problem with rosemary is that it really needs a warm and dry climate in which to thrive, and really dislikes cold, wet ground.
Based on this simple fact, you may be wiser to plant rosemary in containers so that this plant can be moved indoors when the weather changes.
5. Prickly bushes - cats will never attempt to squeeze through a prickly hedge, so if you plant perimeter hedging that has prickly leaves or thorns on their stems, you will succeed in keeping cats out of your home vegetable garden.
Some suggestions:
· Hawthorn - may be pruned into a dense hedge that will keep out cats and burglars.
· Wild Rose - forms a dense thicket when pruned into shape.
· Bramble - make sure it is not one of the new thorn less varieties. Brambles are almost impossible for either human or animal to pass with their thorny stems.
· Holly - forms an impenetrable hedge when planted close together.
· Prickly Currant - spreads easily, has thorny stems, and edible fruit.
· Pyracantha - likes sun or partial shade and can grow to form a dense barrier around your garden.
· Berberis - check for height and spread to find the perfect berberis for hedging or space-filling at the edge of your garden.
· Pampas grass - the leaf edges of the pampas grass are razor-sharp and act as a perfect cat deterrent.
· Blackthorn -- the vicious spines are one advantage and are a perfect cat deterrent.
If you don't feel like protecting your home vegetable garden with some of the suggestions mentioned here, plant plenty of catnip - cats are extremely attracted to catmint (catnip) which acts on their central nervous system like a feel-good drug, and then may become so mesmerized by this plant that they forget to go and dig up your seedlings.
Cat repellent plants work best as barriers to not allow cats in, but unfortunately the most determined cat will get past all barriers no matter what!
If you would like to deter cats away from a tree that may have a bird's nest in it, use citrus peel on the ground around the base of the tree - this works as my own cats have proven!
It may sound strange, but no matter how much you love your cats, you really don't want them in your home gardening plot. Are you willing to take action to keep cats out of your home vegetable garden?
Keeping Cats Out of the Garden - Cat Repellent Plants