One user wrote: “Chicken wire is the only thing that worked for me, and I have about nine different cats who used my garden as their litter box. You can lay it flat on the ground and hook it with some pegs, or use bamboo canes to make a fence.”
The unlucky lavender gardener replied: “Thank you so much, this is really helpful! I’m happy to deal with some unsightly wire for a while if it stops the cats. Will try this, thank you.”
Chicken wire is a light metal netting commonly used to fence in chickens to protect them, and is very effective at keeping cats away as they find the texture uncomfortable on their paws.
It is a safe and cruelty-free method to keep cats out of your garden, as the uncomfortable sensation will work as a deterrent.
Chicken wire can be bought for £8 on Amazon but is also likely available at gardening centres or DIY stores. When installing chicken wire make sure no sharp cut ends are facing upwards and it should always be planted firmly in the soil to avoid injuries.
Gardening book author and expert Larry Hodgson, also known as the Laidback Gardener, has also recommended using chicken wire.
In a blog post, Larry wrote: “Cats won’t be able to dig into the soil and in fact won’t even walk on it.
“To make the situation worse (for soon-to-be grumpy kitty), cats have the inherent habit of scratching the soil after they defecate to bury the evidence… and chicken wire makes that impossible. However, plants can grow through the mesh, so you, the gardener, gets to win!”
On Reddit, the savvy gardening user continued that installing chicken wire in a garden is “well worth” the effort, but only use it around your plants.
They wrote: “One thing I try to avoid is bare patches of soil, so I either sow grass in between the larger shrubs or fence up my annuals until they’re big enough and the cats don’t have space to poo in the soil around them. But if you leave empty soil or even stuff like wood chips, they will dig in it.”
They added: “You can remove the chicken wire when the plants or grass have grown a bit, so it’s not going to be a permanent fixture. It will be an eyesore but only for four to six weeks, but in my opinion it’s well worth putting it up.”
