The Caged Indoor Garden

Text and Photos by Cathy Wilkinson Barash

Sebastian (see the 10/31/21 post) was the last indoor/outdoor cat I had. Living on 14 acres it was great for him to be outside and usually when he was out, he was out with me, often in the garden or our daily walk down to the beach. But he did venture out on his own as well. However, since moving to Des Moines all the cats have been indoor only… just too dangerous in a city. How do you teach a cat to be street smart? And it’s bizarre how many people here have a very cavalier attitude about cats, especially folks in the country, but also people in the city, that it’s just natural that cats get run over. Horrible! 

My current cats, Pause, age 16, and Itty Bitty Kitty (aka Itty Bit), age 5, do not go out. However Itty Bitty Kitty, a Maine coon, does try to run out the back door whenever he has a chance. Unfortunately, he has a penchant for plants. When I first got him he was tiny and fit in the palm of my hand, hence his name. (I had no idea that he was going to turn into a Maine coon, nor that Maine coons tend to remain in kittenhood until there about seven years old! Fortunately, he’s only about 15 pounds; they can reach 30 pounds!) 

His earliest favorite spot in the apartment was in a large potted peace lily. The plant is not real, so there was no indication of how he would act with live plants. I quickly found out that he will try to eat them, knock the pots over, dig the soil out, and generally make a mess. So live plants were no longer part of my indoor landscape. Nor were cut flowers, as it’s lots of fun to knock them over, watch the water splash out, and the container break! 

In October of 2018, a friend gave me a lovely, tasty plant called perpetual spinach, and then informed me that it was not hardy in Zone 5 Iowa and we were about to have the first killing frost. I brought it inside and tried to find a place where it could get light and not be destroyed by Itty Bitty Kitty. Initially, I put it in the closet, but it really wasn’t safe to keep a light on it in a closed area. Then I tried putting it into milk crates and fastening them together, but they were easily knocked over by my curious cat! There were also a few things from the garden that I really wanted to have inside. Suddenly it dawned on me that a metal dog crate would be the perfect solution. I looked online at Craigslist; large ones were going for upwards of $40, which was too much. So, I started checking out thrift stores. I found one that was $10—brand new and unassembled. Strong neighbor brought it in from the car and put it together. The bonus was there was a plastic tray at the bottom, so that I didn’t have to worry about putting saucers or anything under the plants. This would protect the wood floor below the cage! That first fall, I had the spinach and a big pot of sugar snap peas that I had planted for fall harvest, as well as some herbs and other plants in the cage. The sugar snap peas grew above the top of the cage (extra-large dog size), and of course Itty Bitty Kitty got on top of the cage and ate some of the leaves and the peas, but that was alright, they are not toxic to cats. He also managed to reach into the cage and get a few things, but basically it was an excellent solution.

I didn’t use the cage again for two years, but this year that I had some wonderful basils, chard, dill, and other herbs from the garden I wanted to bring in before the frost. And I was toying with the idea of growing some salad and/or micro greens. So, my neighbor carried the cage to its position. I had used the plastic tray outside for two seasons, and unfortunately it had warped. But I found that the seed-starting trays I had never used were the width of the cage, so I could fit three of them. The only downside to that was that the trays limited the size of the pots that would fit into the cage, but they solved any potential water spillage onto the wood floor. 

The plants and cage made their debut today. One of the basils is in flower and the blooms reach through the top of the cage. Itty Bitty Kitty has nibbled on them a bit, but that’s all right as I plan to prune back the flowers (and use them for flavor and color in some chicken salad tonight) to encourage new leaf growth. And I already see where Itty Bitty Kitty can reach in and pull out some of the soil from the pots, so there will be some repotting and repositioning tomorrow! Even 16-year-old Pause has been sniffing around a bit. For me, it’s a delight to have the aroma of fresh herbs in my living room!