With the weather heating up in Scotland and across the UK, households will be spending more time in their gardens enjoying the sun.
Gardens can be an attractive place for different forms of wildlife to come and congregate, with cats and foxes the most common sight.
And while these animals may seem innocent and friendly, they can actually cause more harm in your outdoor space than good.
While it seems natural to let wildlife thrive, these particular pests can undo all your hard gardening work. Foxes and cats can damage your flowers, plants and grass, and this is worsened when they use people's hard work as their toilet.
Cats and foxes can end up sharing gardens as an outdoor territory, especially at night time.
The Express reports that when space is short, both animals can assert their dominance in the same area to protect their territory from neighbouring cats and foxes.
Animals using gardens as their personal bathroom can also harm your environment. Fox poo and urine smells awful and contains a lot of nasty germs, which makes it a particular worry for those with children and pets.
One Mrs Hinch fan took to social media to complain about the pests, and ask for advice on how to get rid of them. The Facebook user wrote: "How do you stop cats and foxes in your garden? Had enough of it now!"
The post received over 190 comments from fellow Mrs Hinch fans ready to offer up their top tips of how to rid gardens of cats and foxes.
The most popular ways to deter the foxes and cats were using tea bags, ground pepper, male urine and white vinegar.
Ground or Cayenne Pepper
Any type of pepper can deter the animals, as they dislike the smell of the spice. One Facebook user said: "Put ground pepper where they do their business. It works, keeps them away.”
A second agreed: "Use ground black pepper and renew after it rains. They don’t like the smell and won’t go near your garden.”
Another said: "For unwanted cats and foxes use pepper. I sprinkled it around the front garden first and in two days I haven’t seen any cats or foxes yet."
Male Urine
The strong scene from male urine can mask fox and cats own scene and force them out of the garden.
One said: "Gross but works. I have my teenage boy wee in the garden once a week - no cats or foxes. They don’t like the smell."
Another replied: "Thats actually a true fact...foxes wont come into your garden if they smell urine from a male person, so spread urine around your garden to successfully get rid of them, but has to be done again after it rains."
A third wrote: "If you have a male in the house, get them to pee in a bottle first thing in the morning and use that around your garden as a deterrent - pest control guy told me this and I can confirm it is effective!"
The scent of dog urine is also said to be effective in deterring foxes and cats from the garden.
Tea Bags
Cats and foxes are known to have sharp senses, especially their sense of smell. This means that they are extremely sensitive to intense scents, like tea bags.
One suggested: "Scatter a few tea bags around your garden. The strong scent will keep them from coming back."
Another said: "Select an area where you don’t want any cats or foxes and dig a small hole. Place the tea bags or tea leaves in the hole and only cover it with some leaves and twigs nearby.
"Burying tea bags in the soil will require a trowel and some discarded tea bags. Avoid covering the whole hole with soil and only cover it partially so the smell can get out."
Gardeners can use a similar technique by using a plastic bottle, where they pack a bottle with tea bags and poke holes in the sides before placing the bottle in the garden.
The scent of the tea bags will seep out of the holes but the bags themselves will be out of reach.
White Vinegar
While this liquid is usually reserved for things like cooking, cleaning or washing, white vinegar is also used for pest control.
White vinegar contains a lot of acetic acid and therefore carries a strong and potent smell.
It is usually advised to spray it around gardens, dampen it in a cloth, or make use of a bowl filled with vinegar.
One Facebook user wrote: "I had a real bad problem with cats and foxes in my garden. I was told white vinegar sprayed on the areas they go on in your garden everyday keeps them away.
"And really works. Not had one since."
Another agreed: "Vinegar works well around the patio area, washing line pole etc."
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