Planting bedding plants in December?

Hello my Gardening Lovelies,

We have only just put in our outdoor bulbs. An unforeseen issue has arisen that a local fox/cat has decided that the three pots (front of house) make great littre trays! That in itself is a bit of a pain, but I am more worried in their enthusiasm to use this newfound toileting facility, they will dig our precious bulbs up

So I was wondering if I could plant some bedding plants in them to deter said fends? But I don't know if that is also too late (there is a theme emerging here ) or if they would stop the bulbs from coming up?

Any guidance would be gratefully received, thank you.

 

Hello @Barders , it should be OK to replant any unearthed spring bulbs at least to the end of the month. Instead of trying to top plant them for protection , I would place something with a bit of weight on top that a fox/cat cannot move . A log or some netting with weights attached . I place a small wooden pallet over my tulip bulbs - to stop our cocker having a dig . You can remove this when the bulbs start to show in late Feb .

 

Hi Harry,

That's great, thank you. I don't really have the money to buy bedding plants, so this is a perfect solution! I will try and something natural to put over them and wait for my little beauties to emerge (hopefully ) in the Spring.

Thank you again

 

Or. a tried and trusted technique to deter cats from digging up plants - put some plastic forks end up into the soil around the bulbs - so that the cat can't position itself to perform the deed.

I've also found that a plastic bell cloche will do the same job - I found them most effective when I planted Cat Mint - all of Alfie's efforts to get to the Cat Mint were thwarted .

 

Thank you for that suggestion Clanless. I found a bag of old lollypop sticks I was going to use for writing the names of seeds on, I could use them and upgrade to forks if it doesn't do the trick

Also I didn't know catnip was called catmint, I will grow some of that next year, save me having to put it, thank you .

 

Happy to help where I can . It also goes by the name Nepeta - which I didn't know until Alfie started chewing on the new shoots .

Lollipop sticks - good idea - dual purpose.

 

I have put a pile of pine cones to stop cat incidents - they look quite seasonal in a pot!

 

Nice one Caroline, I will have a look out for some, thank you

 

I place stone chippings around plants/over bulbs after planting as I've found the desire of cats to poo on what I've planted in open ground is so strong, they'd climb onto a mesh covering and poo through it!


EDIT: Will post a pic tomorrow, not of cat poo, but how they're protected from cat poo

 

Thanks Scrungee and WOW, that's determined

Perhaps my lollypop sticks aren't going to make much of a difference then! It hasn't been back since I posted (I know I have just jinked it now ) so perhaps I can get some pine cones or some stone chippings if it reappears. I replanted the few bulbs that it dug up, so hopefully they will be OK.

I didn't plant them in the ground as I thought this might happen, but never thought a cat/fox would actually jump up into a container raised off the ground

Looking forward to seeing your pic Scrungee, but as you say, not of the cat poo

 

I tried pointy sticks, Pyracantha prunings and they didn't work, so tried plastic pond netting over the top (thinking it would be OK after the fresly disturbed soil settled down) but the cats would climb on top and poo on/through it.

The cats would jump up onto tubs to poo on the plants.

So I tried a mulch of stone chippings around the plants immediatey after planting and it was an instant success. I use the same planting locations for both winter and summer bedding as it avoids distubing the bulbs planted between them. If I don't immediately replant after removing the old plants, I push some short timber pegs into the ground to remind me when next planting so I don't dig out bulbs.

When it comes to replanting I remove an area of stone chips, sieve any soil out of it, remove debris, rinse and tip into a container, then do the same with the planting holes, put the new plants in, carefull re-spread the stone and water in, giving the stone chips another wash. Since using this method about 15 years ago I've only used half a bag of stone for topping up.

In beds the stones are approx. 25mm thick, but between closer spaced plants in tubs I can get away with about 12-18mm which helps keep more of their root system surrounded by a greater depth of moist soil in summer. It might sound a right PITA removing and replacing (and it is!), but since using this method I haven't had a single cat poo amongst my plants (they now use neighbours' gardens).

N.B. This has worked for me with Cats, but Foxes can choose some odd places to poo. They regularly jump up the bench seats at a local woodland to defecate. Walking across a vast grassy area near a local NT property last week we saw a fox had selected a small, folded discarded visitor information leaflet as the preferred toilet.

 

The Fox I feed has be known to poo in it's food dish. The lady opposite takes in homeless cats so I have plenty around the garden. As the Fox don't cover up its it's easier to spot.

 

Thanks for the images of the stones Scrungee, that's helpful.

What a great photo of the Fox John! I had a Golden Retriever years ago and she could detect Fox poo at a hundred yards and roll in it

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Gardening for 2019