I don't think I've ever seen cats digging other than the litter box type scratches, unless there were moles or voles present they could hear and were attempting to catch.

But to answer your question, rose or barberry trimmings, pieces of chicken wire layed over freshly dug soil will keep cats out. There is a product called Get Off My Garden often available in pet stores (green jello like cubes that smell like wintergreen) that have been effective for me, and Havahart makes a granular one of pepper oils - Critter Ridder? Very effective is a Scarecrow Motion Activated sprayer, you can actually train cats to linger somewhere other than your garden with that one, but it's expensive. I have one for deer but it works great for all types of animal; you can't use it during months when you must protect your garden hose from freezing weather though.

I had a huge problem with every cat in the neighborhood using my front garden. I bought a bag of plain old smelly moth balls and sprinkled them around on the ground also in the flower pots. Never had another cat problem. Just watered as usual and the moth balls melt away and I am told they are harmless to the animals because they don't like the smell. A friend had two huge flower pots that her cats loved to use. She put a few moth balls in each pot on top of soil and her cats have not used them since. A great $3.00 investment.

Moth balls are highly toxic to the environment and animals -- please don't use them! Here's some info:

Mothballs are composed of napthalene and/or paradichlorobenzene. Both are toxic substances (chemicals) and possible human carcinogens. >>>>>By law in the US, pesticides can not be used for purposes other than stated on the label. Mothballs are a pesticide. Scattering them over the yard for repelling animals is definately not on the label. Mothballs have been implicated in several poisonings of small children who mistake them for candy. The poison stays in the soil a long time.

Do a search and learn more about mothballs, and hopefully you'll look for other, non-toxic ways to repel the cats or whatever animal is digging. Personally, I suspect skunks or squirrels; as someone else mentioned, cats don't tend to dig holes and leave them that open. If its your bulbs youÂre worried about, you might want to consider what I do: when I plant bulbs, I put about half the soil back over them, then a layer of chicken wire, then the remaining soil. In a few cases I put the chicken wire right on top of the soil  not attractive, but itÂs back in areas where we donÂt normally see it close up, and it saved my daffs from the squirrels.

HereÂs a longer post from another GW forum about ways to repel cats IÂve tried some of the methods and although they mostly didnÂt work for me, some people have more success.

Good luck!!

Cat Deterrents for your Garden:

Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), a deterrent that works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'.

* amonia soaked (corncobs, etc)
* aluminum foil
* bamboo skewers
* black pepper
* blood meal fertilizer
* bramble cuttings
* Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp
* catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards)
* cedar compost
* chicken wire (metal or plastic)
* cinnamon
* citrus peels
* citrus spray
* cocoa bean shells
* coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!)
* dogs
* electric fence for animals
* essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils)
* fresh manure(ditto)
* garlic cloves
* gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree
* gutter covers
* hardware cloth
* heavy bark mulch
* holly leaves
* keep the area damp, they like dry soil
* lavender
* liquid manure (good for your garden too)
* motion sensor sprinkler
* pennyroyal
* pinecones
* pipe tobacco
* plastic forks
* predator urine
* red wine vinegar
* river rocks over the exposed soil
* rocks, crushed
* rose bush clippings
* rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only)
* short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart
* six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up)
* Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water
* squirt gun with water
* talk to your neighbors
* tansy
* thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings
* toothpicks
* upside down vinyl carpet
* vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam
* water bottle on "stream"

NOT RECOMMENDED:
*** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me.
*** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way.

Give them their own areas:

(To keep them out of where you don't want them)
(If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters)

+ pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later.

+ give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason)

+ if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too.

+ Barley Grass
+ Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store
+ Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade
+ Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.)
+ Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to.
+ Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum)
+ Flax
+ Oat Grass
+ Jacob's Ladder
+ Lemon Grass
+ Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch
+ Mints
+ Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out.
+ Sandy area
+ Silver vine (Actinidia polygama)
+ Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive)
+ Sweet grass
+ Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass)
+ Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips)
+ Wheat Grass
+ Wheat Berries
+ Valerian

This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violetgw@care2.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

I will add to Violet's list if I may. During the winter my cats love the pots of lemon grass I bring in just for them. They will sit carefully batting the leaves to watch them go back and forth. I like it when they do this the grass has a soft whisper of sound and depending on how hard it is hit or with nails some fragarence is release. Toward Late January they will start eating the leaves. This leaves me with stalks to plant back in the garden without having to remove anything.

I have tried many products on the market and found most of them work. But these products are not long lasting and you have to keep reapplying them after rain and when they lose their effectivness after a period of time.
The best thing I have found is to buy a device,which you can get at garden centres, which when activated by movement gives off a very high pitch sound barely audible to us but is disliked by cats. They are available as battery operated
or mains operated (recommmended).

My 2 very sweet outdoor cats are blind, thanks to a rotten neighbour who was too selfish to ASK the occupants of my property to buy and give them a non-toxic cat repellant. They were caught sprinkling moth balls on the ground, which killed one cat and made 3 sick (that I know of). I'd be happy to spend my own money to keep my cats out of a yard they're possibly littering in a humane way! Nobody deserves my burdens, but that doesn't give them the right to poison my pets. Now my 2 cats are going to be blind for the rest of their lives. Anyone considering moth balls should instead ask their neighbours to buy them one of the humane solutions listed above, or otherwise risk breaking the hearts of the pets' owners.

Frankly, it is your fault for having outdoor cats. Your neighbor should not have to ask you to help control your pets. If you had any respect for your neighbors you would have proactively done something.

gardenian, no one should have to ask the occupants of your property anything. If you want to have outdoor cats, it is YOUR responsibility to control them and to keep an eye on them. It would be the same if your cat were to get hit by a car. Would you blame the driver?? I think not.

To be honest I object massively to the point way above that "cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world". If I allowed my dog to use my neighbours gardens as a toilet and then expected them to clear up my dog's mess there'd be uproar!

Cat owners need to be a bit more responsible and train their cats to stay in their own gardens - there are plenty of suggestions above - catnip in their own garden etc....