Cat deterrant.

Crunchy Chicken posted on her blog about the frustration with cats taking their liberties in her garden beds. I have had the same problem! I googled, and searched for any possible solutions to this problem that didn't require me to take out my kids bb gun. You see I know who's cat it is, and I do think that they feel bad about their cat being a problem child. So anyway, I found suggestions for citrus oils, automatic sprinklers, special plants and noise making contraptions. However, one of my other requirements was to be able to use something I already had around the house or possibly to reuse/recycle something. Then I found this idea about sticks in the garden to make the cat unable to easily do his business. I also found an idea for putting shiny objects around the garden to make the cat feel like there's movement around him. I decided to try this to see what kind of response I would have.

The pictures show the different techniques I tried. From Right to Left:
First I placed some two-three inch shiny metal discs that I salvaged from the trashpile next door at the construction site. I literally just stood at the end of the bed and fliped them out on the bed like pitching cards at a hat.
Second I split a couple of old foot long scraps of 2x4 that I had in my wood pile into what was essentially kindling. (long skinny strips of wood.) I stuck these all over the next bed. If you click the image and look at the larger version of the picture you will notice that I put them heavier towards the fence. This is the area that the cat seemed to prefer for one reason or another. Third I mixed a combination of both techniques.

My results for this has been pretty good. The cat has still walked through the beds, and did scratch in one area, but has not left me any "presents" in them. I did leave one bed open with no deterrants in place as a control bed and it did get hit. You could literally see the cats tracks through the other beds and finished in the open one. I did put some sticks into that one after that and have had no incidents.
All in all I would recommend these methods.

P~