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Gardeners are being urged to scatter orange peel in their gardens in order to help protect against a common pest.

The weather might be cold and wet again this week, but our gardens are still getting visited - and trampled - by a common household pet. While cats are beloved by many people, and outdoor cats are usually given free roam to slink about and nip into various gardens and green spaces in their neighbourhood, they aren't always welcome in gardens, especially when fruit and vegetables are still trying to grow.

Cats can dig up bulbs, attack birds and leave a mess in your flowerbeds, which is incredibly poor timing in May as many common garden flowers and plants will be in their most important period for growing and fruits like strawberries will be about to come into season.

So if you're not a cat person and you're getting tired of finding clumps of cat poo in your vegetable patch, you've probably tried all sorts of methods to keep kittens et al at bay; everything from high-pitched "cat scarers" to spraying cat repellent liquids.

But instead of cheap tat, there is a simpler, all-natural method gardeners have been using to keep cats out for decades - and you can just use what's already in your kitchen.

Orange peel or lemon peel are an effective deterrent for cats, put simply, they just don't like the stuff.

Simply buy an orange or a lemon but instead of adding the peel to your household compost as you normally would, scatter them on your soil.

Cats hate citrus peel, they can't stand the smell, finding it overwhelmingly pungent and the smell warns them to stay away. It also works with other citrus fruits like limes, but oranges are probably the easiest option.

This is explained by charity Cats Protection. It says: "Because cats have a very sensitive sense of smell, very strong scents can be too overpowering for them. Some strong-smelling items can act as household cat repellents. These are useful for if you want to deter your cat from a particular part of your home or garden. Or they can be used to repel other neighbourhood cats from your garden."

It adds that "citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes and oranges" or just "the peel or juice can deter cats."

The trick can also work with various other pungent smelling plants including mint, lavendar, rosemary and even bananas.

However, be sure to avoid leaving out anything that can be harmful to cats, like vinegar, citronella oil or black pepper, the charity says.

It adds: "If you want to discourage your cat from using a particular area of your garden as a toilet, leave some orange peel among soil. This may help persuade your cat to stop digging up your flowers. The idea behind this is simple. The cat smells the fruit, dislikes it and wanders off. For cats who have come across this strong smell before, it is likely that they will have an even stronger reaction to citrus smells than normal."

The other upside of orange peel is that it rots into the flowerbed and enriches the soil, so you're not only getting a cat deterrent but helping the plants and flowers in the garden too.

Or you could distil orange essence into a spray bottle and spray it at various points in your garden.

Re-applying orange zest or peel every few weeks should keep cats out on the cheap.