Cats?

One of oldest deterrents on the market I think is Pepperdust though whether it works or not I couldn't say as haven't used it.

Can i get it any garden center?

Garden centres and I think pet shops.

Cats love bare patches of earth and even pepper dust wont really deter them Put some small branches across the area so that they find it difficult to dig. Or cover with a layer of bark - not the composted bark though, they'll dig in that too. Another alternative would be a inch layer of grit - wont bother the bulbs they'll just grow up through it.

Moon grower the grit sounds the best alternative then as you were saying yesterday it stops liverwort ( spelling right?) and other stuff also from coming thru. :-)
Pipsqueak thank you also for your help :-)

Yes the grit will help to control liverwort and mosses, needs to be a good layer though to deter the cats.

I shall get that then. Thank you Moon grower :-)

You are welcome

Or you could just get some chicken wire and put it over the top, as its all in a boxed bed - anchor it down with something. Once the soil in the bed has settled down and isn't loose, the cats won't use it anyway - they like nice, loose, freshly dug soil, so you'll be able to remove it once the first bulbs appear in spring.

I could maybe do the grit and then put the chicken wire over that. The cat wouldn't know what happened :-))

I find cats like grit as a toilet, along with gravel, so I never use it now. That's obviously not MG's experience though.

Thats what the wee frigger was doin. :-))

Fine grit yes but not 10 ml gravel... Snag with chicken wire is it looks ugly.

My cat would noy go on any area treated with 6x fertiliser. It has a truly strong smell. I don't know why she had an aversion to it but apparently, it's a common reaction.

Yes, not attractive, Moongrower, but its only over the winter, for a couple of months, when you're not usually outside too much anyway.

You could try cat deterrent called green granules. I tried this and it works quite well. You can buy it in garden centres and B&Q. Looking at your bulb bed I agree with bamboo chicken wire or net over the top would do the job.

Chicken wire may look ugly but once the bulbs grow through it you will still get good colour.
I have had trouble with cats doing wee and number 2's in my garden .Luckily enough my neighbours cat doesnot do its business in my garden as he is well trained in the toilet department , he does come in the garden and , ive not had the strays from across the road coming into the garden so much now. I think its because it can smell my neighbours cat.
Ive tried a lot of cat detterent and i found it did not work , mind you crushed egg shells they cant stand neither.

Thank you everybody this is really helpful.:-))..... I was talking to a neighbour earlier about it and she said to put a bit of mirror along and the reflection of itself might scare it. ???

Hi - have a cat myself, and I think its true that they keep other cats away - rabbits too :o)

The mirror trick might work, unless you have a cat who loves himself too much....;-)

Our two preen in front of any mirror they get near!

Get a dog! It always works.

Not always Merlinbd - back in the 70s we had two siamese who would gang up and attack the neighbour's terrier. One would walk along slowly in front of him until he started to chase the cat, whereupon it would move a bit fast. Then the other cat would come up behind the dog, the cat in front o fthe dog would turn and they both go for him...

not allowed to get a dog :-(

I'm a big fan of the sticks in the ground method - put a load of old twigs or bamboo over the area where the bulbs are and stick them in as firmly and as close together as you can. As the cats can't get in between, they soon give up trying to dig there and go somewhere easier! Also, it shoudn't affect the bulbs too much, because if you did it carefully, you would know you hadn't driven one through the middle of a bulb!
It looks quite arty if you get a load of gnarly twigs too - especially in winter when everything else dies back. Bamboo also recommends tying string inbetween the sticks, but I've never done that. Good luck!