Garden War

I enjoy my gardens. I love wandering through the gardening stores and picking out various plants and seeds. I don't often know or pay attention to the names of what plants I pick out I just like the size, color, shape, and pay attention to when they bloom. It is like a game for me to try to have something always in bloom. This year I got a really early start as I put in crocus bulbs last fall, so the first colors were up by April. I know it may seem odd to other people, but it is fun for me and I enjoy it. You can imagine my unhappiness when the cat from across the street started sitting in and eating my flowers. In my wanderings through the gardening section I had come across a perennial with tall spiky purple flowers that blooms all summer long. Perfect. I planted it along with some annuals on the right hand side of my flower garden out front. Without realizing it I had planted Cat's Mint. Which apparently is along the same line as catnip. See where this is going? The rather annoying cat across the street, who might I add replaced the other annoying cat that use to kill bats and birds and leave them in my yard, lays on the plant rolling around and munching everything around him. Take a look.

Notice the left side it very full and colorful while the right is bare and chomped? Yes, I am obsessive compulsive enough that this DRIVES ME CRAZY! He did some damage to the one in the backyard too.

Although you don't notice it as much until you get right up to the garden and you can see where he has sat, rolled, and munched.

In my quest to be rid of the local pest I went to the gardening store today and described my problem. The nice man showed me this. It is nothing toxic as I want to be free of the cat not destroy the dirt. It is made up of white pepper, cinnamon oil, and thyme oil. While I was there I also noticed a buy one get one free sale of their plant of the week- daises. Who can resist daisies? Not I, so I got two. My hope is that it will grow nice and tall and fill in all the stuff the cat has eaten. I also picked up some more zinnia seeds and sprinkled them all over and them topped the whole things off with the repellent. Fingers crossed the little bugger finds somewhere else to feed his addiction.

I added the other daisy in front of the other Cats' Mint in the back. Sprinkling more repellent there. The cat hasn't gotten to that one as badly but I didn't want to cut him off from one only to have him find the other. I also sprinkled some around the vegetables in hopes that it will keep other wee beasts out of there. Because look-

that is a sort of red strawberry under all my squirrel proof wiring.