You can get your garden looking as lush as you want by following the advice of gardeners and experts, but there's nothing that can stop pesky (but cute) visitors from coming into your garden and treating it as if it's their personal playground - and toilet.
There's nothing worse than being proud of the garden you've created, only for cats to come and dig your plants up. Thankfully, a few garden enthusiasts have shared a humane deterrent that will make them want to leave, but "won't harm them at all".
Cats are protected under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, so causing any harm to them could land you with a huge fine, or a prison sentence.
Fed up with her neighbour's cats destroying the flower beds in her garden, one woman took to the Gardening UK Facebook group to ask for advice about what to do.
She wrote: "What do people do/use to stop cats digging up flower beds and pooping in their garden?
"I've just recently done a new flower bed out the front of my house and every night a cat has come and dug some of it up and used it as a toilet."
And the most recommended method was to use the peel of citrus fruits, as cats "don't like the smell" and it won't "harm or bother them at all."
Someone wrote: "Try citrus fruits. Use orange peel as cats don't like the smell of them."
Another suggested: "Orange peels have worked for me in the past. Put them down daily. It broke the cat's habit and it stopped coming for its daily poo quite quickly."
A keen gardener, and cat-lover, said: "I use oranges and orange peels, they are fantastic! I'm a cat owner and we've had to do that on occasions to stop the cat going for the corner of the wall etc.
"They simply won't go near it as they don't like the smell. Not that any of these suggestions are cruel, but they'll take one sniff at orange peels and walk off. Won't harm them or bother them at all."
A five-pack of oranges can be picked up from local supermarkets for around 95p, working out at around 19p per orange.
Would you try this method? Let us know in the comments.
