All Natural Cockroach Repellent

Help keep those nasty pests away the natural way!
We recently moved, and the apartment complex we moved into apparently has a cockroach problem (wish they has told us prior to us signing the lease). Anyways, due to my cats, dogs, & birds, I refuse to allow boric acid or other types of chemicals that is hazardous to my critter's health. After a lot of research, this is what I put together:

Mix equal parts Garlic, Bay Leaves, & Catnip. It works best if it is all ground to powder (a coffee grinder works great for this) or cut it into small pieces with scissors. You are going to sprinkle the mixture anyplace you may have seen roaches, or places they like to frequent: under kitchen sink, under bathroom sink, on shelves in cupboards, in drawers, across outside door thresholds (entry and exit points), and around window frames. You can also add cucumber peel, which also works.

Warning- this mixture doesn't seem to work well on baby roaches (nymphs), but works well at deterring older juvenile to adult roaches. Works on ALL species of roaches.

How is it supposed to work? They have a strong sense of smell, and these 4 odors are ones they can NOT STAND, so they avoid areas with those odors. :)