The catnip by the door kept getting smaller and smaller. Watered it,
loosened the soil around it.. nothing helped. One morning i stepped
out and all that was left of it was a wallowed out place in the soil
and a nubbin! Then i remembered the stray cat who dashed away from the
house several times as I opened the door...duh! I got the remnants of
a large round bird cage from the shed and staked it over the nubbin
and in time it came back to life and flourished.

Sold home..bought another.. transplanted and cultivated more
catip..for my house cats and me.. (had one house cat, heired
another).. walk the cats in garden when weather permits.. thought to
treat them with the 'nip... even squashed some leaves and stems in
hands and stuck it under their noses and they look at me like, "So
what? get that out of my face!" and just amble off. I can get them to
sharpen their claws by going to the tree and "sharpening" mine but
catnip? no luck. got wierd cats!
lee h

"Pam Gibbs" wrote in message ...
I always plant catnip in several places all around the garden where I don't
mind if the cats lounge around--they're always out there watching me anyway.
I always try to set out at least one fairly large plant and give them access
to that one first. I put screened tomato cages on the others until the
plants are big enough to withstand the rolling around and nibbling. These
are usually big enough to be uncovered just before I put out the eggplant.
I snip catnip stems and leaves and scatter it on the ground around my
eggplant seedlings and plant more catnip between the eggplant. seedlings.

The result of all of this? The cats are wasted, I am entertained ( cats
under the effects of catnip are hilarious), the flea beetles stay away from
my eggplants, and I have anough catnip to dry for the winter so my cats
don't have to quit cold turkey. And I have cuttings to overwinter!

So far no skunks.

"Ol' Duffer" wrote in message
...
Planted a short row of catnip in the new grape arbor this year,
figuring our cat would enjoy it. After reading the planting
suggestions on the package, I thought I would try for an extra
good stand and bought three packages instead of one.

Germinated well, and when the sprouts looked big enough to fend
for themselves, I showed Fluffy where it was. She was suitably
greatful, however...

It is now apparent that I underestimated her ability and persistance
in grazing the little plants nearly flush with the ground. Moreover,
she has now determined that directly on top of the poor things is a
great place for a morning nap. And afternoon. And evening.

I guess I don't mind, as I planted the stuff mostly for her to
enjoy, but it is unclear whether any of it will survive long enough
to naturalize. I think I'm going to have to make a stronger run at
it next year. Maybe three rows with ten seed packs, about an order
of magnitude more than one might think reasonable.