[hubballi]

But it has a nice, sunny spot in IT'S OWN GARDEN. It runs away too quick before I have time to get the hose going.

[Beetroot queen]

It runs away too quick before I have time.

Just keep trying and hopefully the cat will get the idea. A least if you can break the habit now future crops maybe saved. Can you try growing some bits in pots too, cats shouldnt try sitting on pots.

[hubballi]

Anything I try to grow in pots just doesn't get that big. Needs to go in soil but it will of course be too late for anything to get going and yet another year lost with no winter produce.

[Beetroot queen]

Anything I try to grow in pots just doesn't get that big. Needs to go in soil but it will of course be too late for anything to get going and yet another year lost with no winter produce.

I have grown some bits in old black bins and that seems to be working well, also using green rectangular tubs for beetroot and florists buckets for french beans.
I am sure you could grow some winter produce in something, worth having a go.
My french beans have only been in their buckets a few days and they are loving it, i put the soil level down a good four inches to give them a rim of shelter and they are already rigt over the top and looking perky. I was amazed really at their progress 

[pdblake]

Have you tried putting wooden skewers in under the mesh? Next time it uses it for a hammock, it won't injure it (unless it really is jumping up and down with a vengeance), but it will make it think twice. Not quite as comfy with a spike up your backside

[Goosegirl]

I have made a structure from hose and canes but it is still vulnerable to a cat's weight. It also isn't quite the right fit so getting it to touch the ground from all sides is hard. Will onion fly etc go under small gaps ? 

Oh for a bigger garden. I'm pretty sick of coping with a very small space 

It's a question of getting the cane structure rigid in the first place with the horizontal supports along the middle, then a netting that will cover it - maybe you could join two widths together? I also use clematis netting from Wilko laid over newly-planted stuff like onions so they can't dig them up, then remove it later on to use as a vertical support for broad beans etc. Cats aren't supposed to like citrus peel or Albas oil - worth a try? I am a huge cat lover, but appreciate the problems they can bring. I badly need to put weedkiller on my lawn and gravel paths but have to choose my time when it is sunny with a breeze so it dries quickly. Keep them in? The ones in would scratch the cat flap to pieces - call the ones outside to come in - NO CHANCE!! 

[A Reyt Tayty]

So why the sarcasm, which is not going to help Hubbs at all?

Yes it was a tad sarky, and for that I appologise if it offended anyone. I did it to lighten the tone. I don't take umbrage easily and sometimes expect others to be the same.

On a serious note, Hubbs could try constructing something which the cat may prefer to use rather than the one on the beds with something in them.

[hubballi]

I put down orange peel and canes on the top as well as rose stems and other thorny branches and guess what....I just found it again lying on it on top of them as well as finding the canes on the floor. This is a real problem.

[Aunt Sally]

You need to build it stronger, Hubballi.

A strong frame inside the enviromesh top that you have.  The wood needs to be strongly tied or screwed together. 

[Beetroot queen]

You need to build it stronger, Hubballi.

A strong frame inside the enviromesh top that you have.  The wood needs to be strongly tied or screwed together.

I dont think you have any choice, if you cant beat them, join them, make it strong enough so the cat can sleep on it without doing damage. I know its not ideal but its better than what you have currently.

[Garryac]

I put clipping from holly and rose bushes over my plants until thy are big enough. It seems to work in keeping my cats off

[Jackypam]

Earlier this year I built a lovely tunnel with last years fleece and some wire cloche tunnel supports left over from an old one.  I sowed the fleece on my old sewing machine and it was actually really easy.  Then I set it up proudly on the plot over an early sowing of salad leaves which duly germinated beautifully. A week later I arrived to find my cat had set up home INSIDE the tunnel, nicely sheltered from the wind, and warmed by the fleece, and lying on a comfy bed of salad!  I was leass than happy, but learnt my lesson.   Now tie the ends and peg down with old tent pegs!

[New shoot]

I have to block the door of my greenhouse with a net barrier to stop the neighbouring cats sitting in there    Wouldn't mind, but they always seem to want to sit on trays of stuff, never on the floor 

I don't mind cats and accept they roam, but I don't make them welcome because of the damage and mess they cause when I am trying to grow stuff. 

They run at the sight of me as I chase them out of the garden and will chuck buckets of water at them.  Even clanking the door handle makes them run now, but they are persistent little creatures and still come into the garden to see if they can get away with it.

That makes me sound mean, but I really don't mind them otherwise.  I'm quite happy for my mum's cat to loll all over me getting fussed when I'm round there, which is just as well, as that's all he wants to do 

[seaside]

Yes, I'm afraid stronger frames for net is the way forward for cats and the like. Most of us have at some time or other erected a less than adequate structure. These animals and birds aren't stupid. They know the weaknesses and how to exploit them. My cat toppled over and smashed a £600 television not so long ago, almost wilfully. I still get somewhat irritated at myself and regret not having screwed down the base through the hole provided.
Every time I am a little lazy and veg protection is not quite right, the planet, usually spearheaded these days by birds, spots my indiscretion  within a couple of days like a microbe in an open wound.

[radiohead]

What is the point of doing anything at all. Yesterday I planted out my carefully grown young spring onions, kale, chard and beetroots and covered the whole bed with enviromesh with canes with pots on the tops to hold it up. Took me most of afternoon to set up so I won't get onion and cabbage fly as well as beet leaf minor. Also, it's a hard job keeping my cat from messing in it all the time (despite giving him clear patches of earth in other areas)
Well I got up this morning and found next door's cat using it as a bed and the whole thing had absolutely flattened and broken just about everything. Italian kale, beetroot, curly kale, spring onions, sweetcorn. Then all my tiny spring onions had been dug up and messed in adding insult. It's like I am not allowed to have anything growing successfully because there is ALWAYS something that has to spoil it. So far it's been leaf minor, onion fly, blight, cabbage fly, pigeons, slugs and snails, damping off, stunted growth and now cats. Because next door keeps their cat out all night (even in winter) it decides to use my netting as a bed and breaks everything. Now I won't have any winter greens AGAIN because I am foiled. I know folk kind of laugh at me here but it really is soul destroying.

Quite surprised at this thread...A cat owner complaining about a cat?..has it not occured to you Hubballi that your own cat is probably causing someone else as much grief as you are getting from next doors?I have every sympathy with you and everyone else struggling to grow their own at the moment,it's soul destroying....what with the weather and pests,but what goes around comes around.