My veg patch is not a litter tray!

[Toddler101]

Just posted this in gardening until I spotted this area of MN, not sure where is best place to post!

How do I stop neighbours cat mistaking my raised veg trug for a litter tray? I tried lemon zest and sprayed some lemon juice over it too but it's still happening 😩

The cat digs, poos, and digs again to hide it.

There go my radishes!

Help! Looking for a humane solution that still enables my veg to grow safely for consumption.

Many thanks!

Could you cover the area with raised mesh/netting?

Cover it with mesh or chicken wire?

I definitely recommend using the green mesh you get for strawberries. Put stakes in the edges and put the mesh over the stakes.
I was growing grass in an area and it completely put my cats off the nicely dug soil where the grass was growing under the mesh.

We had this with our raised bed in the front garden. We put netting over it to start with but the little sod got underneath it so we had to weigh the netting down with bricks. Once the plants got too tall for netting we bough some cat repellent. I can't remember which one it was but it was something like this and seems to have done the trick - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karlsten-Repellent-Granules-Deterrent-Citronella/dp/B088FX49GV/ref=sr_1_13_sspa?crid=1ZKJLD54QRLKB&keywords=cat+repellent+garden&qid=1686750529&sprefix=cat+re%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-13-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

I've heard of people putting loads of short lengths of bamboo throughout the bed, rather like a bed of nails. I have never tried it myself though.