Catnip in a herb garden???

[HunkieDorie23]

I am putting in a separate herb garden this year and I am looking at different things to put in. I have been looking at a kitchen herb garden and also a medicinal herb garden although it may be a combination. Here is the problem... I have cats and one herb I am considering is catnip. If I plant that into the herb garden will the cats destroy my herb garden. I know the cat really like it and I don't have a problem with that, but will the go in and dig up my whole herb garden or be rolling in it and destroying all the other plants?????

 

[hoodat]

I am putting in a separate herb garden this year and I am looking at different things to put in. I have been looking at a kitchen herb garden and also a medicinal herb garden although it may be a combination. Here is the problem... I have cats and one herb I am considering is catnip. If I plant that into the herb garden will the cats destroy my herb garden. I know the cat really like it and I don't have a problem with that, but will the go in and dig up my whole herb garden or be rolling in it and destroying all the other plants?????

That's always a problem with catnip. Try to plant it in an out of the way corner. Some cats act like stoners around it and others just ignore it.
The medicinal values of catnip are often ovelooked. People just assume it's for cats only. It has a very calming effect on humans.

 

[kcsunshine]

My cat loved dried catnip but just ignores the plants.

 

[digitS']

Too many cats in this neighborhood. Catnip gets chewed on and either stunted or killed.

There is catnip around my larger veggie garden. I find that it is happy to grow in the protection of other plants. There is a volunteer blackberry near a pile of rocks. (We will see if that blackberry amounts to anything .) The catnip there is quite happy.

I had a pile of pruned branches thru one winter near the wild plum nearby. When I took the branches out, there was one of the largest catnip plants I've seen, growing up thru the pile.

Steve

 

[journey11]

The cats rolled my catnip until it was no more... They didn't really hurt anything else though, just the catnip.

 

[patandchickens]

I agree, put it somewhere else.

Not only is it enticement for cats to claw up and/or flatten nearby herbs, the bigger issue IMO is that it self-seeds like CRRRAAAAAZZZY and pretty soon you will not have a herb garden, just a catnip patch

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[journey11]

When I grew it, I was surprised by how big it got too. Mine was rather tall, about 18" and it spread out quite a bit.

 

[ducks4you]

You such an enabler--you're gonna make all the cats in your neighborhood high!!

 

[barefootgardener]

I grow catmint and my cat does not bother it..I love it..It is beautiful, and use it as a border along my herb/flower/garden bed..It does spread out, but does not overtake anything..Blooms first thing in spring and all thru summer till frost..

Ginny

 

[ducks4you]

Cat-mint and Cat-nip are 2 different plants.
see this link:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf23457523.tip.html
Is Cat Mint the same as Catnip?
...Catnip and Catmint are not the same (although the two are often lumped together) but you're right, Catmint (Nepeta mussinii) is related to Catnip (Nepeta cataria). Botanically, both are in the genus Nepeta. To make things even more confusing, there is also Lesser Calamintha (Calamintha nepeta) a subspecies of catnip and several other varieties and hybrids in the Nepeta genus.

Many cats are attracted to both plants, but their response tends to be more intense to Catnip. The chemical responsible for their crazy behavior is called nepetalactone, which is found in the leaves, stems and flowers. The amount of this chemical found in each plant varies a bit by species. It seems that catnip has larger amounts of it and so attracts more felines. Incidentally, all members of the cat family (Felidae) are supposed to be attracted to it, so take care when giving it to lions and tigers. As for telling the two plants apart, Catnip generally has a taller, more upright growing habit, and Catmint tends to mound and has more pronounced purple/pink flowers.