Bill R wrote:
wrote:
If neighborhood cats or other critters are digging in your flower
beds, try this neat tip from reader Nancy Jones:

"I have tried something I read about to help keep the neighbors' seven
cats out of my side flower garden where the soil is loose and rich
with peat moss and they love that for their personal bathroom. "I go
to an apartment complex near my house and gather up laundry baskets of
pine cones and then spread them around in my garden. This seems to
work.

Nancy Jones is full of crap! Pine cones (which I HAVE tried) don't work
at all.

They usually work if they're piled in a solid layer at least six
inches deep, but then so does pine bark nuggets which is much easier
to obtain and work with. But pine cones just strewn about on bare
soil will do nothing to discourage cats, and may even encourage them
because cats love to bat them around like toys. Of course if you live
in close proximity to other homes that have cats and there isn't much
acreage for them to roam then cats will take up residence in the
closest flower beds no matter what deterent is used... wily cats know
how to avoid sprinklers and they derive great joy in antagonizing the
biggest meanest dogs.