I don’t dislike cats, but there is a particular cat who visits and terrorizes my garden while sharpening his claws on the otherwise smooth trunk of a young Pacific coast maple. He then uses the loose gravel on the flat garage roof as a litter-box. I know that he must be watching me smugly from a concealed vantage point as I occasionally climb a ladder with a trowel and bucket to clean the roof. He really enjoys reminding me to wash the car by walking all over it. His actual name if he has one, is unknown, so he is known as GardenCat.

I suppose that cleaning the roof is not as bothersome as finding surprises elsewhere. Fortunately, GardenCat leaves only paw prints on the car and has not yet sharpened his claws on it. Although GardenCat seems to enjoy antagonizing me, he is likely a proficient mouser and a productive member of our neighborhood. At least that is what I continually remind myself, because I can do nothing to control his escapades.

GardenCat is unfortunately not the only wildlife bane to gardening. Squirrels, birds, opossums, rats and raccoons may also be bothersome, particularly as fruit and nuts ripen. Deer are a more serious problem among or near to the Santa Cruz Mountains. The garden can be designed in such a way to protect against some of the damage  that wildlife can cause, but control of most of their habits is just not practical.

For example, before the deer-fence was completed at the nursery, we only grew stock that deer had no interest in, primarily rhododendrons. However, production can not be so limited by the diet of deer. Likewise, I can not prevent the squirrels from taking nuts by growing nuts that squirrels don’t eat, because there aren’t any. If I want to grow nuts, I must either protect them or share.

Netting is used to protect fruit and nuts from birds, but I do not know how effective it is and it may unfortunately become a tangled mess when it must be removed. Owl ‘decoys’ effectively deter small birds from nesting nearby, but are not very threatening to the larger birds that steal fruit and nuts. I find that flash tape works very well by reflecting flashes of sunlight to frighten birds away. One of my clients had an even better idea; hanging those useless compact discs that come in the mail (you know, from the internet companies) among the trees. It works just like the flash tape!

Fruit and nut trees that are isolated from anything that squirrels may jump from into the tree and that do not extend limbs so near to the ground that squirrels can simply jump up into them may be made inaccessible by obstruction of the only other entry; the trunk. Squirrels or terrestrial creatures can not climb over smooth material such as sheet metal, or even a scrap of linoleum wrapped around the trunk. Of course the wrapping must be high enough and long enough (vertically) so that squirrels can not simply jump above it. If squirrels can not pass it, the other guys like raccoons, rats and opossums can’t either.

I don’t protect the trunk of the maple tree from GardenCat because the damage is superficial and less unsightly than protective devices. More sensitive trees may however, require protection from cats or deer rubbing felt from their antlers. It is easily accomplished by surrounding the trunk with a few stakes stuck in the soil in a circle a few inches away from the trunk and tied loosely at the top. The stakes are not there to support the tree and should not be tied tightly, or they may otherwise interfere with development of caliper. Deer prefer to rub antlers on bare stems and will avoid such a ‘thicket’ of stems. Cats likewise prefer something more solid than a bundle of sticks to sharpen their claws on, like a sofa.