The catnip bloomed just fine the first year, being an annual and all. And, look! The two heathers arrived and were planted. I didn't fill mulch all the way in the first year, figuring cats like the earth, but due to weeds, I mulched everywhere the second season. Here Onyx, Sebastian, and Simon take a nibble while Niko makes her away along the path. I got it as organic oat and wheat seeds from the local feed store. The cat grass grew in quickly after planted. The pots indicate where the two heathers, which were still on order, would go. The first day's work: stepping stones laid, and many things planted. They could go in and out at will through two cat flaps year-round. There were also water bowls out on the deck at all times most of the cats were older and moved kind of slowly, so I wanted to make sure they had water on-hand. Because the area was full sun and quite hot, with very little natural shade, I added a few plastic structures for shade. For example, I knew they needed a litter area and I knew how much my cats enjoy rolling on stepping stones, so those were included. Some practical considerations led to the design. Fortiantely, as it turns out, cats tend to like plants we consider herbs, so those are a good fit to the conditions. I narrowed plants down further based on the conditions of the garden (zone 5, full sun, and fairly dry as I couldn't rely on the daily cat-care volunteers, who already had their hands full with other tasks, to remember to water the plants, nor was I able or willing to stop by every few days to water). Others may be harmful to other creatures, but not to cats, and/or toxins are only present in part of the plant, which cats don't usually touch, like roots.) So I instead queried my friends who have cats and gardens and also got a lot of input from cat lovers on garden forums online. ( And, as it turns out, a lot of plants listed as poisonous are not in fact poisonous to cats unless ingested in impracticably huge quantities. I figured it would be a simple matter of Googling "cats and plants" to find more, but I was surprised that most information is about plants poisonous to cats, not attractive to cats. As an avid gardener and cat companion, I had some ideas about the former, based on plants my own cats had liked over the years. I had to figure out what kinds of plants to plant, and in what design. Clio is already comfortable in the Valerian above (it is very calming), so let's all settle in for a trip down memory lane.īefore I started, there was a fenced-in section available.Īnd four cat-shaped stepping stones the owner wanted to incorporate. The organization is called for The Love of Cats (TLC) and still exists, though the property with the garden was sold in late 2005. Well, back in 2003 I created a garden specifically for cats at a no-kill cat shelter in Lodi Township, Michigan. Nan at Gardening Gone Wild asked us to discuss any design changes we'd made to our gardens to accommodate pets in her post Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop - Pets in the Garden. I apologize for any shock and suggest you breathe into a paper bag or have a glass of water to settle your nerves before continuing. Warning: Posting frequency has dramatically increased (this is my second post in two days and my third post in a week).
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