Just a few minutes into the second episode of And Just Like That‘s third season, we find Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw typing away in her beautiful Gramercy Park garden. The sunlight is golden, a cute squirrel nibbles in a tree, flowers bloom, and her heels are sky-high. Then—rats.

There’s something unsettling about the calm before a tsunami, when the water suddenly pulls back from the shore. That’s exactly how I felt watching Carrie, blissfully typing her questionable historical fiction novel in that trendy typewriter font, as rats suddenly overran her garden—mere inches from her $1,920 Maison Margiela satin pumps. The rodents burst from a rustling bush like a Fast and the Furious spinoff for vermin.

A (literally) plagued Carrie hires an exterminator called “Rat-A-Tat” (adorable), whose team proceeds to tear up her entire garden. Next, she enlists a handsome landscape architect played by Logan Marshall-Green—a serious actor, yes, but also The O.C. guy who got shot to Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” (aka the “mmmm whatcha say” song). Ah, television.

For all Sex and the City’s talk of New York as the “fifth lead,” the show rarely featured the city’s infamous rats—likely because it favored uptown glamour over downtown grit. Mice only appeared twice: once when Charlotte’s “gay-straight” boyfriend (problematic, but iconic—Happy Pride!) panicked over a mouse in his pristine kitchen, and again when Baryshnikov’s character had to kill one in Carrie’s pre-real-estate-empire apartment.

But rats are a universal New York experience. A 2023 study estimated three million rats call the city home. Mayor Eric Adams (of “my haters become my waiters” fame) even appointed a “rat czar” to tackle the issue with tactics like rodent birth control and—shockingly—putting trash in cans instead of the street. AJLT, ever relevant! Which made me wonder: Can you actually keep rats out of a NYC yard?

Gardens aren’t just for the wealthy here—rats roam freely across all five boroughs. And they’re the great equalizer: Carrie lives in posh Gramercy, yet the rats came anyway. “They don’t check your zip code before invading,” says my friend Tara McCauley, a NYC interior designer (fun fact: “Tara” spelled backward is “A Rat”). She recommends preemptive measures.

“Unsurprisingly, this designer thinks hiring a pro is always smart,” McCauley says. “Bring in a pest-proofing expert before decorating your yard. They’ll identify vulnerabilities early—better than realizing too late that your chic fence has gaps.”

But don’t expect a Ratatouille-free paradise. “The idea of rat-proofing a NYC yard is laughable,” says floral designer Caleb Kane. “When has outsmarting nature ever worked? Sure, you could go full Fort Knox with traps and poison—seasoning your garden like a carcinogenic cast-iron skillet. But I’d rather work with nature.”

When asked if a rat-free NYC garden is possible, garden designer Landon Newton offered a gentle but firm “no,” adding, “Rats live here too.”Here’s a more natural and fluent version of your text while preserving its original meaning:

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“It’s not about killing rats—it’s about encouraging them to live somewhere else,” he says. “The key is staying vigilant. I never use poison or sticky traps. Instead, remove food sources, watch for their pathways, and disrupt their scent trails by spraying surfaces with water or using strong-smelling repellents (they hate dryer sheets). If you find burrows, call a professional exterminator—preferably one who avoids poison and uses dry ice or CO2. Humane options exist!”

Kane, Newton, and interior designer Maude Etkin all recommend planting aromatic herbs like mountain mint, sage, lavender, or rue to deter rats while also enriching your garden. “I’d suggest growing things rats won’t touch,” says Kane. “Strongly scented herbs are your secret weapon. And no, I don’t mean marijuana—though that’s an idea.”

There’s no single solution. “It’s all about balance and persistence,” says Newton. “A concrete contractor once told me, ‘Rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter—and you know what this front garden is? One big hole.’ The answer isn’t paving over everything. A friend’s kid once built a ‘rat hotel’ from a cardboard box and proudly placed it in their yard—much to his mom’s horror and amusement. Welcome to New York!”

Etkin also stressed that keeping rats out entirely is nearly impossible (though she did mention they dislike peppermint oil). “Instead of trying for a perfectly rat-free garden, focus on making it rat-resistant with smart design,” she says. “Keep your garden clean, raise and tidy up beds, and avoid creating cozy hiding spots. Prevention is the real key.”

I now live in Los Angeles—call it weakness—but rats were a regular part of my New York life. I’ll never forget waking up early for Rockaway Beach only to find two dead baby rats curled up in my Birkenstock. Or coming home from a movie to see an elderly neighbor whacking a rat-filled trash bag with a baseball bat, blood dripping onto the sidewalk. Or the summer of 2013, when I banned open-toed shoes in Manhattan after not one, but two rats ran over my foot outside a Chinatown nightclub. This AJLT episode, “The Rat Race,” brought back some warm memories.

“We put up with a lot of objectively unpleasant things to live in the best city in the world—in my completely unbiased opinion,” says McCauley. “Rats are one of the more outrageous indignities we New Yorkers accept. I’d still rather die than live in the suburbs.” Besides, as she points out—suburban backyards are full of ticks anyway.

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