What Shall I Do?

A visitor stopped in the garden today wondering if I have a problem with little four-legged, cute, long-eared vermin of the much breading sort.  In fact, in my first spring in the garden, I had one little fella who nearly wiped out all my newly-planted vegetables and annuals!

Many homeowners face the same problem. This particular visitor continues to see her precious perennials disappear or become short nubs. "Is there anything a rabbit will not eat?" was the anguished cry. When rabbits are really hungry the answer is, "precious little."

So, what can you do? Well the good news is that there are several options:

• The Elmer Fudd Method: You can attempt to trap your rascals and put them in your annoying neighbor’s yard waaaaay down the street. The downside is, nature hates a vacuum. The rascal’s cousins will move in.
• The Rabbit Delight Method: You can plant a crop of something you particularly do not care about in a far corner of your garden. The rabbits might eat the trap crop and not your lovelies. I have seen violets work well for this task.
• The Nasty Stuff Method: You can apply various types of repellents, such as human hair, fox urine, moth balls and various pepper sprays. The downside I find is that, again, when rascal is hungry, forget the nasty stuff.
• The Walking Yummy Method: You can try an outside cat or dog. There are public gardens and nurseries across the country that employ such a method.
• The Alcatraz Method: The most effective method I have found is a simple physical barrier. One method is to place chicken wire fencing (buried at least two feet in the ground) around the most critical areas during the most critical times (when there is very little else to eat). Another method is to use milk jugs, two-litter or twenty-ounce bottles to cover individual plants over night. Also, you can try covering various plants with white sheeting over night.

Posted by Josh Steffen