A Container of Catnip for Farley

Posted by Amy Urquhart Jun 5, 2008

What garden is complete without a cat? We own two cats, Farley and Rudy, and both of them greatly enjoy spending time outdoors. I’ve spent many mornings outside watering and wandering around in the back yard, coffee in hand, investigating the vegetable garden with Farley close at my heels.

I had a cat several years ago who was attacked by a dog, and for that reason I am nervous about letting the cats wander the yard on their own, given that the yards around us are inhabited by at least a dog each. Rudy rarely goes out, but Farley rules the yard, roaming and lying in wait for birds hooked up to a twenty-foot long leash, which provides him with a wide range in which to wander.

I’ve planted some catnip in the garden, and as catnip is prone to do, it has thrown seed around the back yard, and lovely, lush catnip plants have sprung up in random spots all over the garden, including the perennial border and the vegetable plot. I dug up a chunk of catnip in order to donate it to the plant auction, and set it on the deck where I could water it regularly. In no time, Farley had discovered it and made it his own.

Although catnip doesn’t have quite the same effect fresh as it does dried, Farley loves his new catnip plant on the deck. I potted it up into a larger pot and watered it well, placing it in a location that is accessible to him on his leash. He sits and licks at the plant, bending a stem down to his little face with a rather dexterous paw, rubbing his face against it, sniffing it well.