How To Keep Pets Out of Mulch

Mulch can make a garden or flowerbed look more tidy and beautiful. It can also attract pets. If you have caught yours or a neighbors pet rolling around in your freshly laid mulch, you may want to try some preventative tactics to make sure it doesn't happen again. There are several ways to keep pets of your mulch.

• Place mothballs around the flowerbed or garden where the mulch is located cant and dogs do not like the small of mothballs so they will stay away from the mulch. The scent of mothballs does not last long, so they mothballs will need to be replaces fairly often.


• Use chicken wire to create an arch shaped cage around the mulch and the flowerbed or garden. The chicken wire ill help keep pets away from the mulch, while still allowing access to the flower and plants when they need to be watered or cared for.


• Install motion activated sprinklers in or around the mulch. When a pet gets near the mulch, they will activate the sprinklers and get wet. This will startle most pets, especially cats, and keep them from coming back to the mulch.


• Cut small pieces of lemon and orange peels and place them in the mulch. Most pets do not like the smell of citrus, and will avoid the mulch. The peels may need to be replaced on a regular basis as they will lose their smell at some point in time.


• Mix coffee beans and several teaspoons of cayenne pepper in a bowl and sprinkle the mixture around the mulch. Pets do not like the smell of the mixture, and will stay out of the mulch and away from the garden or flowerbed it surrounds.