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 Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 12:39 pm
Spring is here and the garden sections of stores are putting out a selection of seeds and gardening needs from pots, soil, and so on.
So. I figured since I was moving and wanted to also save money, I would grow my own catnip and cat grass for my cat Pearl. And I figured I would share it with you in hopes of not only working on a green thumb, but also make your cat(s) happy too.
Let's go over the n** and grass first:
Catnip
(My seed packet is Nepeta cataria)
This is a herb commonly grown for the use of cats, but can also be used for humans as well. For humans, it is used in tea blends and sometimes in culinary dishes. The tea blends would help with sleep, stress reduction, and relaxation.
As for cats, this causes our lovely friends to rub, roll, paw, lick, and chew the plant. Consumation of the plant will cause drooling, sleepiness, anxiety, leaping about, and excess purring. Some cats can be a little more agressive and growl, hiss, bite, or swat. Note though, not all cats can be affected by catnip, that is completely normal.
Cat Grass
Cat Grass comes from a variety of oat and wheat seeds. This is a good plant to have for cats if they live indoors and give them something to chew on. This plant would be handy to have to keep your feline from chewing on other plants in the house that shouldn't be chewed on. Also, for more outdoor cats who need to stay indoors, this will help their need to chew on grass.
Cat grass offers essential vitamins and minerals along with folic acids which are healthy for a cat. They also help regulate the digestive system of the cat and hairball removal as well. So yes, cat grass is safe for cats.
Though be careful as too how much grass is consumed. Overeating will lead to vomiting and diarrhea. So give them some grass as a treat rather than a daily chew session.
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Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 12:47 pm
So, to get started, I bought a cat grass kit and needed to get a container for the n**. Here's a picture of what I have (disregard my herb kit too.) Some n** and Grass ready to plant!--- Anyway. How to Plant: Catnip PlantingCome back in a wee bit for more information. Need to research growing it indoors! Cat Grass PlantingCat Grass seeds can be bought in kits or by the seeds themselves in pet sections of stores or pet supply stores. To start, you will need a shallow pot, a saucer, water, soil, and seeds. If you bought a kit, do as the directions state. Without a kit, start by filling the pot (with a saucer underneath) with about three quarters full of soil. Then, add a layer of the seeds and add a little more soil on the top. Take a little bit of water and add it to the saucer. This will prevent overwatering and get things started. Cover the top with plastic and place out of the sunlight for a few days (Yep, we are germinating here!) and keep the soil moist. After a few days, you'll see some sprouts coming up. Now you can remove the plastic, place it in sunlight, and let it grow (and keep watering it too!). When the grass is 3-4 inches tall, it can be gently trimmed and given to cats. (But not tooooo much.) Hope everyone enjoys the info! Good luck on growing some n** and grass!
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:58 am
I need to get a grass kit. D:
How do you keep your kitties out of it? Im afraid my mister (previously an outdoor cat) may try to use one as a litter box.
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Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:25 pm
I have progress! I've been so busy that I haven't planted the catnip yet. But will this week. But the cat grass on the other hand....  We're going strong and coming up. I just kept the soil moist and watered it from the saucer (rather than on top) and now have it in a well lit window. Pearl has been a little curious as to what it is, but the grass needs to be about 3-4 inches in order for her to consume it, for it'll be fully grown by then. The current ones are about 1 inch or below and still coming up! So, growing some cat grass is a little easy and quite fast (It's been about a week I think...)! As you can see, I still have seeds just sitting on top of the soil. I may start another container, clean those ones off and replant them for another round of cat grass.
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 1:13 am
I've been half heartedly planning on growing cat grass for awhile now. I was intending to get a few low seedling trays, so that they'll end up with a rectangle of grass - I thought they might enjoy sitting on it. smile
I was going to do two or three trays, and rotate them, so they don't get torn to shreds, but it hasn't happened yet.
Sadly, none of my cats care about catnip at all. *sigh*
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Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:02 am
My sister and brother-in-law are bought to start a garden of their own, currently their plants are inside germinating/getting to size before heading outside.
Once I said I was going to grow a bit of catnip, they were considering doing so themselves to that they can make their two cats (Zeus and Hades) and save some money buying catnip.
I am going to plant the n** tomorrow and get that going. The grass is still going well.
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Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:28 pm
Laili My sister and brother-in-law are bought to start a garden of their own, currently their plants are inside germinating/getting to size before heading outside. We grew a veggie garden in pots over summer and we germinated the seeds inside in jiffy pots (I don't know if that's a universal thing... but they're just little discs of seed raising mixture, held together by mesh).
It was all going very well, the dog would sniff them occasionally and that's it, but then we brought Minstrel home and he tried to eat one and the dog saw it... then they all got torn to shreds and scattered across the entire lounge room. When I came home one day and saw the destruction, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. smile
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:19 pm
I recently bought a couple packets of catnip seeds. Maybe I'll come back with pics of the plants after I plant them and they start growing.
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Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 5:43 pm
I got my grass kit today. Hopefully it grows and it stops the Misters non food item eating problem.
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Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 10:08 am
Update 5/9/13: I have a couple sprouts so its getting moved outside during the day for some direct sunshine.
I didnt know how many seeds to put in there so I used half the bag. sweatdrop
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Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:40 am
PICTURES!!!  The starter kit I got  Day 1  Day 3  Day 4  Day 5
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