Catnip

The Catnip, Nepeta Cataria or catmint is a plant that many cat lovers like to keep in their gardens.

It grows about 12 to 20 inches tall depending on the species and has flower spikes ranging from white tinted lilac to dark purple.

There is an added bonus that it attracts butterflies as the leaves are used to feed their larvae.

Catnip oil is reputed to be a mosquito repellant - it's quite complicated to distill oil from herbs but try it out for yourself, by rubbing a few leaves on your skin and see what happens.

I have always had catmint for my cats - the look of ecstasy on their faces as they roll in the plant is wonderful.

You can buy a plant or take a few runners from somebody elses.

Catmint impregnated toys can be bought commercially or you can make your own.

It can be as elaborate as you like, but overall your cat won't care what it looks like - so if you're challenged in the needlework department, a simple square shape will do.

Just make sure that the cloth is a solid weave - such as cotton - and then stuff some dried catmint inside.

Your cat will love his new toy.

You can take a pot indoors for the winter if you have room. Bear in mind that your cat will rub it and probably knock the pot over so, keep it low on the ground and put some paper underneath to keep mess to a minimum.

A mint tea is quite refreshing - just brew a few leaves in boiled water for about 10 minutes, strain and drink. It is supposed to have a sedative effect on humans, but I haven't noticed it putting me to sleep - it's just very soothing and relaxing.

For an explanation of gardening terms that you might not understand, please check out the Growers Dictionary section.

I found that I was either skimping on explanations or giving too much information on the individual pages so I have posted all relevant terms in one section - if there's anything you need to know, please drop me an email.

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