Can't get much better fertilizer than fish carcasses!
(my "Bass-O-Matic is an old food processor; save the fish carcasses to make chum blocks)
I sort through the freezer & sacrifice an "old" chum block or two in the bottom of the hole before planting anything that I want to really take good care of, add 6" of dirt so the roots don't get frostbite & drop the plant in the hole.
Cats aren't as big a problem as skunks & coons but a little chickenwire mat pinned down fixes that.