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I'm helping my daughter-in-law to get her new garden into shape and with all the digging the cats are having field day using the newly turned soil into a toilet argh! It stinks especially when you have to work on digging the next bit, even after it's been removed.

We had some onions that had gone over and were on the compost heap so I broke them up and scattered them all over the newly dug soil, it worked, they just used an older part of the garden instead so more onion perhaps.

where the oinions leaves have been laid on the soil a couple on inches apart, (accidently close to one another) there are big slug trails on the soil but not touching the onion, Perhaps they don't like the smell? Perhaps the onions made them cry? whatever it kept another slug attack away

Kim

You must have a different kind of slug where you live... Mine eat onions. At least the green bits.

I had the same problem when I had a cat - every newly dug bed was her favourite loo. But I soon learnt to cover all the freshly dug places over - with plastic netting, chicken wire, or the plastic stuff that's used for tree guards. Once sown and planted you'll need to cover it up anyway, to keep animals (not just cats, also pigeons and rabbits) from digging stuff up again.

I haven't tried it, but I am told that cats dislike citrus peel, so scatter your beds with orange and lemon peel!
Sue

Most cats hate citrus, so the peel works
Also chilli - my grandad used to mix a chilli paste and smear it on the places cats were most likely to get into the garden and it stopped them.
Dh's favourite option when we get a garden is a sprinkler set to go off on a movement sensor. Yes, sprinklers waste water, but the cats learn quickly that they will get wet whenever they come into your garden and they give up.
The same can be achieved with use of a water pistol, but you need to have a LOT of free time to deter the cats.
Sarah