Tuesday's Tickle!

I decided to stop by this afternoon and say hello.  I hope you all are doing well, and, not suffering the summer heat too much.  I am willing to share the hot Texas temps with anyone who needs more heat!  Haha-now, how funny is that?  Hmmm...no takers, huh?

We are baking at 102° today!

Now this looks a lot like my yard, but, really it is not.  We've had an outbreak of cats this spring, and, they're about to drive us crazy...NOT that we don't like cats-BUT, they're demanding and they're messing up my gardens!

And, there are kittens involved, so we don't feel comfortable running them off while they are nursing.  We have one mom cat that looks identical to the one in this photo, who has taken on 2 more kittens who lost their mom, and, that makes 5 with her three.  What a compassionate feline!  So, we're trying to help her out.  But, at some point, we must find homes for these sweet creatures!

In the meantime, I'm having to  repair the damage to my flower gardens, and, with this heat, that is not easy to do.  I'm just going to have to sacrifice some of the plantings, until the weather tapers off, and we have some relief.  I came across some tips that I thought we all might be able to use (well, those of us who may be having a cat problem!)  And, along with the heat, I am happy to share them with you, my dearest readers!

TIPS

1.  Dump citrus peels-orange, lemon or lime, into your garden.  The scent should keep cats from exploring.  You'll need to replace the peels as they dry out and lose their scent.

2.  Fill small glass jars, such as baby food jars, with diluted ammonia and bury near the perimeter of your garden. The smell should keep cats at bay, and putting the ammonia in glass jars will keep the liquid from leeching into the soil.

3.  Spread coffee grounds or used tea leaves throughout your garden. The grounds or tea leaves should be evenly spread and they will also help with fertilization. But the scent will keep the cats away.

4.  Mix up black pepper, red pepper and dry mustard in equal parts and spread on the perimeter of your garden.  The smell-and the taste when the cat gets its paw into the mixture and then licks it off, will discourage the cat.

5.  Fill old, clear plastic juice containers with water and place throughout your garden.  In theory, the reflection from the water will keep cats away.

...OR...

you can stick spikes in the ground...SURE-so they can impale themselves!  That would surely do it!  I'm just kidding.  I read that if you spread pine cones throughout the garden, they will deter the cats, because of their sticky, sharp edges.  Also, landscape fabric is a suggestion, because the cats don't want to dig through it...THAT'S BALONEY!  They can and will dig through it...been there!

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of leaning toward the coffee grounds and citrus peel idea.  We've always got an abundance of coffee grounds on hand (my drink of choice), and, we almost always have some lemon and lime peel in residence!  I've been down the red pepper/chili road, and, well it's okay if you water the ground allowing the peppers to stick.  Otherwise, as soon as a strong gust of dry wind comes along, it's gone,  and you're replenishing this expensive method.

Well, if you find something that works, be sure to let me know!

Thank you so much for stopping in, please say hello if you can!  I love hearing from you! You know, I had a lot of grief getting this post on.  As you can see, it's titled Tuesday's Tickle!  Well, needless to say, blogger was acting up on me yesterday evening, and would not save the post properly.  I had to rewrite at least half of it, UGH!  But, even though it is now Wednesday,  I am keeping the title.  I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful evening, or, morning, whichever the case.

Thank You:
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http://gardenguides.com
http://ehow.com

This is one tough Cowboy...note the band-aid on his wrist, lol!

See you next time ♥