Cat friendly plants

Now that summer is here I thought it was time to add some plants to the catio. Working out what plants are safe for your pets is a minefield, especially as so many websites say conflicting things. The reality is that even non-toxic plants can cause issues if they're eaten in large quantities.

I've learned that I can't have spider plants in the house, because Mica will eat them. I briefly considered letting him have one in the catio as part of a salad bar, but they like warmth and you don't get much of that in the UK. Plus it's an expensive business replacing plants your cat can and will kill off in seconds.

So, I've played it simple. We've now got regular catnip, lemon catnip, cat mint and valerian. The valerian got dug out of the planter pretty much immediately so that's been removed from the catio until it roots in a bit more. Thus far, Opal has been enjoying a sniff of everything, and Mica's shown no interest whatsoever. I still think it's worth it to have some natural greenery in there. Now I just hope I can keep it all alive as I'm useless at gardening!

What both Opal and Mica appreciate is cat grass and this was the first plant we got for the catio a few months back. It's on its last legs now (hence no photo!) and I wasn't keen on buying new plants due to the cost involved. It's supposed to be easy enough to grow yourself, even when you're not the green fingered sort like me. Get yourself a bag of organic wheat grain, like this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheat-Grain-All-Natural-500g/dp/B007TIJ4XA/ 

  • Fill your plant pots with organic potting soil, leaving about a inch of space at the top.
  • Sow your seeds. No need to be too precise with this, scatter a good amount of them all over.
  • Cover your sowed seeds with some more soil.
  • Water the pots until the soil is nice and moist.
  • Loosely cover the pots with some clingfilm.
  • Place your pots somewhere dark and warm. Mine are in my kitchen cupboard under the sink.
  • Check your pots every other day or so, and spray them with some water to keep the soil moist.
  • Once the grass grows high enough that it's poking the clingfilm, remove the clingfilm, and move the pot to a sunny area.
  • Wait until the grass is at least 4 inches high before letting your cats have access to it.

As you can see I made an absolute mess of mine and yet its still growing!

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