I had problems keeping catmint in the gardne as my 3 cats all adored rolling on it until I saw a tip in Gardners World from a reader which said cover it with an upturned hanging basket burying the rim of the basket in the soil. I have now had my catmint plant 4 years and it is magnificent and the cats still roll on it but do not damage the crown and the plant thrives.
If you are growing Cat-mint for your own cats be warned, every cat for miles around will visit, and in doing so will spray around your garden. the pong can get very bad in warm weather, I also agree with the hanging basket tip placed over the plants crown.
I have had very good results with growing mint in a solid hanging baskets and providing a sample to my cats when demanded.!
These days however I grow plants in pots in a cat proof greenhouse and dry the leaves and let mine have 'exclusive' use of it indoors. With very funny results.!
I live in a flat complex with a verysmall garden. I find growing Nepeta amongst my other plants such as herbs, seems to discourage the more than a dozen feral cats i have in my area. I also grow another Nepeta in a 10 inch pot which seems to confuse the cats as to what to do with it.
The only way I can grow catmint is in a hanging basket. For the first year it looks a bit ropey, but once it has clumped out, it looks grand, and cats can't reach it. I have my own cat, but there are about five who visit my garden regularly, including one whose owners are lovely people but have never taught him that 'NOOO!' does not mean 'keep using my carrot bed as a toilet'!
The only thing I can do in spring when the little seedlings come up is cover the beds in net wigwams to keep this brat of a cat off the beds. Once stuff is nice and big he skulks off...I always thought slugs were the worst pest, but I fear cats are actually even more destructive....
Thank goodness I saw these messages, my recently purchased cat mint is now a few bare stems, so I will try the basket over the top so that it will recover! My cats adore it!
I put cat mint in, but it is like a drug to the cats, their eye lids sit right back and we can't get them into their house at bed time. They go bonkers so I just took it out. We have two cats, one very expensive pedigree ( gift to daughter), one rescue cat, great company in the garden, but the rescue cat, Oliver, dumps all over my beds and digs it down six or eight inches. Not a pleasant surprise, but since they are great company wandering around me in the garden it is no trouble.
Hi everybody. My cat can take or leave catmint but I have continued to grow it in a pot on the front door step because the flowers are so pretty. My question is - has anybody observed cockroaches hanging around their catmint? Because I have found them underneath the pot. I'm not just curious, i am also a little worried as I don't want these things coming onto the house. Any ideas anybody?
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I have had very good results with growing mint in a solid hanging baskets and providing a sample to my cats when demanded.!
These days however I grow plants in pots in a cat proof greenhouse and dry the leaves and let mine have 'exclusive' use of it indoors. With very funny results.!
The only thing I can do in spring when the little seedlings come up is cover the beds in net wigwams to keep this brat of a cat off the beds. Once stuff is nice and big he skulks off...I always thought slugs were the worst pest, but I fear cats are actually even more destructive....