I recently bought a new house and have been nurturing a large raised bed where I've planted leafy veggies like sorrel and good king henry, along with some strawberries. Unfortunately, it seems the neighbor's cat has taken a liking to my bed as its litter box. I've been trying to clean up as much as possible and even started putting coffee and garlic down to deter it, but there's still a lot of poop, and it really smells! My worry is whether my veggies are contaminated and if the bed is still safe for growing edibles. Some say there are serious risks with pathogens, while others seem unconcerned. I've also been digging in the soil with my bare hands before realizing the issue. Any advice would be appreciated! ?
2 Answers
How on earth did you manage to get good king henry to sprout? I’ve been struggling with that for ages! As for dealing with the cat poo, it's tough once they've made it a habit. My go-to strategies are: 1) Build a physical barrier with something spiky, like old brambles, or maybe even a netted frame if they won’t back off. 2) Get rid of the poo and change the top layer of soil to help with the smell, maybe even add some scented stuff like lavender. 3) If you catch the cat in the act, a quick water spray can be effective – maybe a bit controversial, but it works! 4) There are some noise deterrents available that might help. But personally, I wouldn’t eat anything from that bed until the problem is sorted out; moving your plants into pots could be a good idea.
In theory, pathogens should break down pretty quickly after you clean up the poop. But for me, I would wait at least a couple of months before eating raw anything that touches the soil, like root veggies or leafy crops – better safe than sorry! Cooked stuff should be fine, though. If you've got bare hands in the soil, that only poses a risk if you have open wounds, but otherwise, you should be okay. To keep cats out in the future, I've found that a fence made of thorny sticks works really well!
That's good to know! I’ll make sure to cook everything thoroughly. Time to start building that thorny stick fence!
All great tips! Thanks a bunch. I managed to get my good king henry plugs from eBay, and they've thrived after transplanting. Not the best-looking now, but they've survived!