Gardening with kittens has been interesting. Any fresh dirt is theirs for digging in right? Well they trained me fairly quickly to keep the litter box clean or they will have to find someplace to dig. My neighbor planted a pineapple, note, not just any kind of pineapple but a white pineapple. The kittens went and dug it up then used the area as a litter box. She had to be creative in protecting what she replaced the pineapple with, a lovely pikake.
I was standing in the kitchen, working at the sink and noticed one of the kittens come in and drop something on the floor behind me. I thought it was going to be a lizard, it wasn’t. It was a lovely little gardenia start that had rooted well in the little pot I had it in, or so I thought. She had pulled it up and brought it in to show me how she could help me with gardening. The gardenia did not survive the replanting so I now have a venus flytrap in that pot. Will they leave it alone, one can only hope.
My neighbor has a cactus garden along one side of their house. I was standing there talking to her as the kittens scampered about. I looked down and one of the kittens had one of the bulbs from the cactus in her mouth. She didn’t break it off but like “What are you doing you crazy girl? Stop that!” Is it like human babies, they have to put things in their mouth to test what it is?
They have explored and claimed all of the acre of land we live on. They have also claimed the jungle around our place on three sides as their playground. When I call them in, they often come from different directions. It’s not like they go to the same place however they do have a favorite section where they are often found playing.
I have lattice around my herb garden and the girls think Uncle John built it just for them to have a jungle gym for chasing critters. NOT. When it came time to do some work in the garden, I covered all the fresh dirt with dried leaves in an attempt to deter the kittens. It seems to have worked for my intended purpose but the plants heat up more on the days I don’t water enough in the morning. I’m not a gardener and I am smarter than my kittens on this one, or so I think, for today.