To redo the garden in a rented place?

[Boopbobeedo]

Ok, bear with me. It's going to be a little long and a bit difficult to describe without being very outing but I'll try and give you the gist!

I live in a rural location in a property on a site where my landlord also lives. Completely separate buildings but same (large) plot of land, along with several other tenants who also have their own buildings. Each property has their own fenced off section of garden.

My section doesn't have a gate on it (I think it used to) so anyone can just wander in any time in theory. As I live alone it would be a bit more reassuring to be able to lock my 'area' off - it's not a huge concern as no one really comes in uninvited anyway but it feeds into my next issue..

My landlord is a huge animal lover - there are a LOT of stray cats and wild birds in the area and he puts our huge bags of feed for all of them. So much so that next door had a rat problem because all the food was attracting them. They decimate absolutely everything in my garden as they can just come in the garden and shit everywhere/eat everything as there is no gate keeping them out and a massive food supply for them. As if stands I cannot use my garden at all because there is just cat and bird poop everywhere and there is no point cleaning it up as it will be ruined again a day later (I have tried in vain! I even have a special designated poop sweeping broom).

Wibu to ask him if I can completely redo the garden so I can actually use it? My plan (eventually) is as follows:

Add a new, lockable gate,
Dig up/ replace all the grass and weeds with membrane and either chippings or stones,
Add a small decking area on top of the stones so I can put out some chairs to sit outside when the weather is nice - this would just be decking tiles rather than anything permanent, it's just to make a flat base for chairs/table,
Put some planters or pots out with ornamental flowers or attach small planters to the fence so I can plant flowers without the birds and cats ruining them 😆

Is this ok? Or would this be too major an overhaul on a garden I don't own?

If you've got money to burn, go for it.

Expect rats to shack up under the decking though.

Chippings or stones would turn your garden into a giant cat shit tray

I would not dig up the lawn thinking gravel etc would put off the cats! The local ones adore going on my gravel path as it reminds them of cat litter! I like cats but still. I would say get a dog or a cat yourself to keep them out or use scent methods to put them off. Also, I would tread carefully about totally changing the landscaping, it would really annoy me as a landlord if someone did that without at least asking first.

A gate won't keep the animals out so you would likely still have the same problem.

I think it depends how long you plan to stay, and how annoyed you'd be to be evicted shortly after completing all the work. That's always the risk with rental properties. Also, the gate won't make any difference to the number of cats you have in your garden, they'll come under or over it very easily - having said that, id want a gate for security and privacy.

I wouldn't undertake anything without the landlords permission as it would be a lot of money to waste otherwise!

The decking I have in mind is not 'proper' decking (I can't afford that) but just some tiles laid directly on top of stones. I'm not wedded to that idea either way.

My garden is literally a giant cat/bird litter tray anyway tbh. I trod in a massive turd in the middle of the garden path the other day when I went to hang out the washing (I don't have a tumble dryer so have no choice) - it was hidden by the huge amount of overgrown weeds and grass. Which leads me on to the other issue that I don't have any kind of garden maintenance machinery (lawnmower, strimmer etc) and I don't have anywhere to store them. Plus I don't really want to buy them and keep having to cut down shit infested grass 😡 I'd rather just have gravel I can spray clean with a hose or at least be able to see all the poop to avoid it!

I don't really want a cat or dog of my own. I can't afford to look after one right now and I work long hours so it would be unfair to keep an animal locked in or out all day.

The gate is more for security, I know it wouldn't keep the animals out but nothing will 😞 My only hope of having a vaguely usable garden is to minimise the disturbance from all the poo unless I can somehow convince my landlord to stop feeding every random animal for 20 miles around (unlikely!) 😂

I would move but I really can't afford it right now so I'm here for the foreseeable future. No hope of affording anything better right now unless I get a partner or somehow manage to up my earning potential, which is a dubious prospect with the current economic situation!

What about those sonic cat deterrents tucked away in a bush where your LL can't see it?

A gate won’t keep rats out either.

Even if you do it with the permission of the landlord, they can ask you to return the property to the state it was in when you moved in at your own expense.

So if you’re okay with that, crack on.

I really don't think it would stop your animal poop problems. Rats are excellent climbers, so are cats and birds... well. A gate is no fort knox either for a determined trespasser.
Our cat loves chipping bark. It's prime litter material for him.

I don't see a problem with that, but I agree that gravel and bark will just attract animals. First, work on securing the garden. You can put chicken wire inside the fencing and ask the LL if you can install a lockable gate. My house is rented and I grow lots of things in pots and I also put down flagstones to make a path.

If you are going to use gravel it will need to be the larger 20mm type. Any smaller and as pp have said it will be used as a giant litter tray.

If I were you I'd try the sonic deterrents first and either hire a gardener or get a cheap lawn mower/trimmer and an outside storage bin to keep it in. Keeping the lawn short should near enough remove the cat poop problem cause they generally like privacy.

If that doesn't work then I'd be tempted to create a couple of lovely large flower beds for the sole purpose of attracting the cats to a specific area of the garden. It's not ideal but at least then they'd be more likely to go in the flower beds than on the grass so you'd know where to expect it.

I have though about using the sonic deterrents but I'm not sure if they work - I've read a lot about cat deterrents, even read some threads on here about them and a lot of people say the cats just ignore them!

I have had the grass short before, my landlord had it cut right back in the summer. Didn't make any difference to the poop problem, they still crap all over it.

I would prefer gravel over chippings as I've had them before and didn't like them as much - the stuff I have in mind is the bigger sort of pointy 'chunks' rather than small round 'pea' gravel if that makes sense. That's what I had in mind.

Nothing I have planned would be permanent - the membrane and stones could be removed and new grass seed put down if my landlord did want me to put it back. Tbh most of the garden is weeds with grass just filling in the gaps. It isn't a 'lawn' as such. Even if I dig everything over and re seed it it would look better and be level, would get rid of the weeds and be easier to maintain. At the moment it's so uneven it's hard to get it to look good.

It's so upsetting and frustrating to have an outside space that I can't use because it's so full of poo 😞

Contact cats protection and see if they can catch and regime or neuter and release the cats. That would limit numbers at least.
Get sonic deterrents for the garden
Ask your LL to reduce feeding as it's causing a rat infestation/move feeding to their own property away from yours

Landlord already does feed them at his own property. It's just that because we are all on the same site we're in reasonably close proximity to each other. He won't stop feeding them. According to my neighbours when he discovered the rat problem he blamed something else - he fixed the rat issue they had but continued to put all the food out.

The whole place is surrounded by farms and fields so I know I'm never going to get rid of all the animals (nor would I want to) I just want to be able to use my garden without constantly treading in poo.

It sounds like whatever you do, the problems are still going to be there - the animals will always get in and do what animals do! And a gate won't deter any determined intruders, human or animal!

Instead of wasting your money and time, would you be better off looking for a new place that's more suited to you?

I would do this but as mentioned this isn't going to be an option for the foreseeable future unless I have some major change of circumstances which may or may not happen. I've decided that for the time being I'm better off trying to improve the environment and place I'm in.

Anyway, at the moment it's all moot as I have no money right now but I wanted to create a plan so I can start saving and hopefully I'll have a nicer, vaguely useable garden by next spring when the growing season kicks off 😆

for what its worth
there are some herbal deterrents - you MUST remove poo asap & place the deterrent on there - also paprika or some strong spice near borders & immediately on other side of fence make a pathway of some type near your close line so you can see poop & avoid it

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cat+proof+fencing&docid=608040367124057021&mid=5D7B74A147465244D30D5D7B74A147465244D30D&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
while you don't have to pay for this system I can see you could use this idea with cheaper mesh/chicken wire if you are a bit handy?

It is not unreasonable to ask him to pay for a gate to be installed

Appreciate the video @mumwon, it looks a good idea. Don't know if I'll be able to do that as the other side of the fence is in my neighbour's garden but I can ask!

More of often than not I can't even see the poop to remove it as it's hidden in the weeds/long grass. There is a concrete path running through the garden that I walk on to avoid it but they also poop on the path 🙄

Apparently cats don't like citrus so leaving orange peel (quarters that you've eaten, for example, not zest!) in your garden dotted around may help.

I KNOW it is possible to have a nice garden on this site as I've seen them! One of my direct neighbours has a nice garden but she a) has a dog and b) has a big concrete patio that they can hose off.

There's another one with a beautiful garden full of flowers but again, everything is either in pots or hanging baskets and the floor is gravel with a stone path 😂 Hence my ideas!

A gate is a reasonable request, but the rest of it not so much and it probably won't fix the problem anyway. I'm surprised you have a coexisting cat problem and rodent problem, as I'd expect stray/feral cats to be a deterrent to rats. Are you sure it's not fox scat you're finding? Cats tend to bury theirs, whereas if you're finding it sitting on paths etc, I'd say a fox is a much more likely culprit. Either way, you need pest control for the rats, and probably a new landlord.