14/3/25
It's been really difficult having cats and a garden or orchard.
Last year wasn't a good year for my plants; the rains were very sudden, so they devastated what I planted. Then my cats and dog finished the job.
So I'm trying to figure out how to have pets and plants at the same time. So I'm trying little by little, trying one plant at a time.
One of them is lemongrass; it's a medicinal plant that disappeared from the garden a while ago. The dog would chew on it, and the cats (of which there are several) would chew on it too. So we were left without a lemongrass plant.
The scientific name for lemongrass is Cymbopogon citratus, also known as lemon grass, lemon balm, cane lemon balm, lemongrass, lemongrass, and others. In some parts of Venezuela, it's known as malojillo, or toronjil. I found this information about the names for malojillo on Wikipedia.
I tried to salvage a piece that was left, but I couldn't.
Until a few weeks ago, I went to a friend of my mom's house and saw lemongrass. My eyes lit up, so I just thought: I have to get just a little.
I know, it sounds like an obsession, and it makes me laugh. But I haven't seen any other place that has it. So I asked my friend's mom if I could just get a little to take home.
In return, I have to bring her some ornamental plants, because the lady doesn't have any and wants some.
In my case, I have many ornamental plants, but only two medicinal plants because of my pets.
Now I have three, thanks to the lady. If she reads this: Thank you very much, madam, may God multiply it for you even more.❤️
So, how have I managed to keep the cats and the dog from attacking it?
I keep it in the garden, which is fenced in, where the dog can't go. Even so, the cats can get there because they're very agile climbers. So it's in my field of vision while I'm working. In fact, I can see it right now from my desk.
So that way I keep an eye on it.
But that's not all. I also planted it in a large container of wall paint that we weren't using. And I raised this container on top of a concrete block. This way it's up high, which prevents the cats from having easy access to it.
Even so, the cats jump... They're very clever, but no cleverer than me. I want to have cats, the dog, and plants too, because what needs to exist is a sensible way for us all to live together and for me not to feel sad about not being able to have my garden the way I've always had it.
Cats came into my life only a few years ago. Before that, I only had plants and a dog.
So, an idea came to me after seeing my cat jump and stand perfectly balanced on the edge of the container. How do they do that? I find it truly amazing, but at the same time, I'm terrified that they'll destroy my plant again.
So, the stick technique came to mind (I talk about this technique on my YouTube channel, where I talk about plants and interesting things).
This involves sticking wooden sticks into the soil. This prevents them from getting into the pots and digging.
In this case, I planted the tallest sticks I could find around. This way, they won't be able to stand on the sides of the container. So, problem solved.
As an extra tip, Mom told me she'll put a net over it so its leaves won't fall and the cats won't be tempted. So I'll be doing this to preserve my plant as much as possible.
This way, I'm working and inventing techniques to have a good garden. Because I've tried the ones I saw on the internet, and honestly, they haven't worked for me. I guess every cat is different, and different things work for every owner.
So, I wanted to share it with you, my fellow gardener. If you're going through this, I want you to know that you're not alone; you can have pets and plants; you just have to be very creative to achieve it.
Text of my authorship.
Images in the post created by me in these software:
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- All the photographs in the post are my authorship, which I edit with the Lightroom and Meitu apps.
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