"Rebecca" wrote in
oups.com:

Dear All,

Last summer we had a patio built, along with a couple of planting
walls. Our cat has for the past year been religiously using a certain
area as her toilet. As she was previously a cat litter girl I don't
want to confuse her by stopping her going there.

As its now planting season I would like to plant in this area.

You shouldn't need to add fertiliser - the cat has been doing that! If
anything you may find the soil is too rich for some plants.

There should be no problem with planting - but there may be a problem
with planting it and still having it as a cat toilet area.

Cats like loose soil, and you will probably find that either the cat
will pull up the things planted, or, if you plant large potted plants
that are too heavy for her to move, that the area will become less
attractive as a cat toilet because it's now full of plants and the soil
isn't so easy to move about.

If you want to keep it as a cat toilet but also plant it up, what you
want is plants that are tall enough that she can get in underneath them,
that are not too shallow rooting, and that will not need replacing every
year (bedding plants and cats are a bad combination - far too easy to
dig up!).

I use rose bushes for this task, and mulch underneath them with spent
potting compost which is nice and light to encourage my cats to dig
there. As the roses are prickly, they also discourage my greyhound from
getting in there and munching the cat leavings (yes, dogs really are
revolting aren't they...) and I have planted catnip round the edges for
extra pussycat pleasure.

However, if your toddler keeps getting into the cat toilet, this might
be a good time to relocate it further from the patio. Cats are pretty
adaptable, and if you make a nice digging area somewhere further from
the house, then gradually plant up the old toilet with lavender, she
will probably move of her own accord.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--