they are peeing everywhere!

My cats have been having this annoying habit of going to the garden and peeing on the grass.
They don't look for some dirt, they don't cover it up. The just sit on the grass and pee, like a dog.

The stench is awful and its only getting worse.

Before my older cat got sick I used to fill my days with alot of activities so I wasn't at home as much. Now I'm noticing how my cats [specially one] keeps doing this over and over again.

I used to think that this neighbore cat was the one spraying our home [which I'm sure contributes to the problem] because we used to free feed our cats and we always leave a window open at night to let them go outside if they need to. Right now we don't free feed them anymore so the neighbore cat will soon leave our property.

how can I re-train my cats? why are they doing this?

we also have a big litter box in case they need it and because we close the window when it rains. They use it from time to time, but we would like them to continue using our garden but NOT the grass and definately NOT like a dog.
Cats should cover up after peeing.

My mother said its been going on for a very long time but I haven't noticed it. She's considering changing all the grass. We have been trying to sell our house but with this odor no one will buy our home. Its not the odor inside the home.. but outside its starting to get bad.

She wants to buy some of those balls [the ones you put in the closet to keep moths from damaging your clothes] and putting them on the plants she doesn't want the cats to pee on and on the grass. I do not want that, I think its dangerous [specially because one of my kitties is very active and playful] and I told her if she does it I'll take them away.

any suggestions?
what can I do to train them?
what can I do to minimize the smell?

I'd keep them in the house until you get it sold. And I think you can mix vinegar and water 50/50 and pour it on the spots outside to kill the smell. I don't think that will hurt the grass, either. Good luck, we'll hopefully be selling this house next summer, and although I'm really looking forward to getting out of here (hate the location, between the school, football field, pool/park/new skatepark, lots of kids traffic right through my yard!), I'm not looking forward to the whole selling/buying thing.

Amber

I have outdoor/indoor cats and they pee (like a dog) on grass especially when it is grown and needs trimming. There is no smell at all. Is your grass watered and trimmed regularly?
Are your cats spayed/neutered? Maybe what is pungent is cat spray and not pee.

All of my cats are spayed/neutured and my grass is trimmed regularly.

I have been doing some thinking and we have an area where we don't have any grass, only lose dirt. It has always been for my cats to use... its quite a big area, but maybe I should change the dirt [I'm sure the word isn't dirt but english isn't my first language.. I don't remember the right word].
Could that be the problem?
we ask the gardener to remove the top of dirt from time to time but maybe we should just replace all the dirt?

If you don't notice any smell, yayi, I wonder if the smell may be coming from this neighbore cat that keeps spraying our house. I still haven't figured out who's the owner of that cat yet. My cats don't even hiss at him, so I don't understand why he's spraying all over the place.

fatkitties: I couldn't really leave them as indoor cats they'ld go crazy. I'll try your vinegar/water solution and see what happens.