Feline Inspectors

 

Gardening isn't just interesting for people, pets are curious too. My cats helped me start off the 2013 gardening season as you will soon see.

 





Cody and Changa enjoy hanging out on top of the seed starting shelf.

 

I have three cats. They are all boys, they are all exclusively indoor cats (road traffic is too risky around here) with two being brothers (Changa and Simon) and one (Cody) I adopted from my niece. They are in a word- awesome. I love them.

 

I love how curious they are about everything I do. If I'm cooking in the kitchen Simon will watch me from a kitchen chair and periodically ask, with a particular meow, if he can smell what I'm doing. If I'm working at the computer it's my lap will be occupied in shifts of one after another, there is nothing like the look of confusion or disappointment I see in their expression once they discover someone else is already on my lap ha ha.

 

Changa like to pull out the Popsicle stick seed markers.

 

It's no surprise that, when I begin my seed starting this time of the year, that all my feline buddies feel the need to get involved. First off, the seed shelf that I drag out of the garage to put in its prominent location in our living room, becomes a main event. The cats immediately swarm around it with sniffs and then begin jumping and playing on it. The seed shelf is something I built and designed myself a few years ago, it looks a little haphazard, but it works. It stands about 6 feet tall and because cats naturally enjoy high perches of one sort or another, they love this seed shelf.

Unfortunately their interest in my indoor gardening activities can lead to some mischief. Yesterday in particular provides a good example of what I have to deal with around here.

I've been searching and searching for an organic seed starting mix. I can usually find one made by Burpee at Lowe's, but for some reason they had not received any of it this year yet. Thankfully, I finally found some while I happened to be doing some grocery shopping at our local Co-Op. Arriving home, I plopped the bag of seed soil down in the kitchen and went about other business for a while. Unaware of the mischief my cats would get into... for when I returned to the kitchen... I found THIS:

 

*gasps* So guilty, Simon even posed for several pictures. This cat has a thing with dirt! He would dig the soil out of my houseplants if I didn't have a protective layer of rocks in the pots to prevent him from doing so. Simon must have smelt something he really liked in this soil mix, because he clawed right through the bag. The bag was easily fixed with some box tape. What's more hilarious is that soil you see on the floor... that is not a product of gravity, he scooped it out with his paws!

 

He even demonstrated how!

 

Now I have to hide this bag of temptation of seed soil from Simon so he doesn't rip into it again.

Changa (top) and Simon with the seed shelf.

Other temptations for the cats are the seedlings themselves... which they will eat if given the chance (no matter what the plant is!). When I water the seed trays, I lay the individual trays on the floor. The cats are always interested in this activity to which they will usually stand by and watch and sniff everything I do. If I don't keep a close eye on them, or walk away from the tray for a second, one of them will no doubt go to nibbling. For this very reason I tack up old bathroom towels (sheets would do too) about my seed starting shelf to prevent them from getting at the soil in the seed trays and the seedlings that will eventually fill them.

Since my obligatory carnivorous friends are apparently part cow, I'm going to attempt to grow them some grass. This is my first attempt at it, though my boyfriend assured me that kindergartners could grow it (meaning that it is easy and literally I guess), so I should be OK. It will be a while before I will be able to bring them fresh grass from outside, so I hope this will grow quickly and be able to suffice for the time being.

Simon posing with his cat grass seed tray.

The tray I used for the cat grass is a reused food container (from something so long ago I forgot what originally was in it), that my inner hoarder told me to save for future use. I'm excited to see how this all works out!