Making Your Garden Interesting For Your Cat
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Cats love to roam and a garden is the perfect place for them to do it. But what are the best plants to grow to make your garden appealing to your cat?
For an amateur gardener, cat grass is a plant that cats make a beeline for and, luckily, is quite easy to grow. If you can't find the seed in your local garden centre, you should be able to find it for sale from seed merchants.
Prepare the ground by racking it to a fine tilth, removing any large stones in the process. Make shallow drills about half an inch deep and 2 inches apart. Water along each drill before sowing the seed thinly then cover the seed with sieved soil or compost. Germination usually takes about 2 weeks, in the meantime do not allow the ground to dry. When the grass reaches a height of about 6 inches, trim the grass with sheers to keep in under control (that's if your cat hasn't already done it for you!).
Cat grass is beneficial to cats, as the natural oils in the plant keep their digestive systems healthy.
For those who want to think bigger, why not give them something to climb! But you do need to do a bit of research before you buy the first thing that you find at the garden centre. Apples trees make good climbing trees for a cat, and you also benefit from tasty fruit in the autumn. Apple trees also benefit from being fairly easy to grow in he UK and come in all sizes to suit any size of garden, they can even be grown in pots! All commercial trees are grown on 'root stocks', these are selected to control the final height of the full grown tree. The smallest of the root stocks is called "M27", this is the one to go for if you intend to grow your tree in a large pot, but beware, if your cat tries to climb this one it'll probably get squashed! Next up is "M9", again this is quite small, it'd be good for planting in a very small back garden, expect it to grow no more than about 6 to 8 feet. "M26" is a root stock probably ideal for most small gardens, it grows to around 10 feet. The "MM106" is known as a semi-dwarfing root stock, it is a very popular choice being good for the average sized garden, final height for this type of tree is around 12 feet. The most vigorous, the "MM111", grows up to 20 feet so making it unsuitable for most gardens.
You'll also need to be aware that, as the trees get more restricted, the more care and attention they'll require. The smallest trees on "M27" stock will need careful attention to watering and feeding throughout their life, but a large tree on "MM106" stock will thrive even in poorer soils.
Even so, the major benefit of a dwarfing root stock, apart from their small size, is that they start fruiting much earlier. An "M27" tree will start producing fruit within 2 years, but the "MM106" trees can take around 6 years to fruit.
Once established your tree will be providing a great place for your cat to explore and reward you at the same time with delicious fruit.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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