By Sonya Welter

Some people grow their own wheat grass to juice for smoothies.

It’s so loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and chlorophyll that it’s referred to as a superfood, capable strengthening the immune system and battling any number of ailments.

But I grow wheat grass for a much more important reason. I grow wheat grass for my cats.

Growing your own wheatgrass is much cheaper than the cutesy grow-you-own-cat-grass packets sold in pet stores or the trays of fresh wheatgrass in the produce department of fancy grocery stores. Wheat grass is sprouted wheat berries (which can also be ground to make wheat flour).

Almost any Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

I recently moved into a new apartment and discovered that one of my roommates owned a cat.

One of the cat’s newest hobbies is to jump up on the table where my houseplants are to investigate.

She’s even managed to start chewing on them.

My poor snake plant has a chunk taken out of one spike, and I think the pothos, schefflera and ficus are also under possible attack.

As much as I think cats are nice, I’d also like to have nice, healthy plants. I recently asked for suggestions from my beloved Twitter friends.

Bitter apple or pepper spray:

Several people suggested that I spray the plants with a bitter apple or pepper solution. These tastes horrible and deters the cat from chewing. You can buy bitter apple spray at pet stores. As for pepper spray, you could simply add some Tabasco to some water and spray on your plants.

Aluminum Foil:

Someone suggested that you could Read the rest of this entry »

By Reggie Solomon

• Julie Ann at Jewells in Seattle laments this year’s cool season which is impacting her tomatoes.

• Moonwolf at Guerrilla Gardeners: Now Public captures photos of sunflowers growing under a city sidewalk grate proving gardening can happen in the unlikeliest of places.

• Fern at Life on the Balcony shares advice on how to keep cats from eating plants in your garden.

• Adam at Gardener’s World shares tips on how to build a water feature in a pot for your urban garden.

By Michael Nolan

I was talking to Reggie a few weeks back and he shared one of his personal urban gardening dilemmas.

It made me laugh when I realized that it was one so many people have asked me about.

It is the old scourge of cats in the garden.

Now I know you’re probably laughing at this point, but our furry feline friends have a way of destroying weeks worth of gardening work when they get a bit… let’s say overzealous while they are using our carefully tended and well-dug gardens as their personal litter boxes.

It may just be the occasional gift or it could be much worse, such as Read the rest of this entry »