Pest Control 101: How to Keep Rabbits out of Your Garden
Rabbits. Those adorable, furry little beasts. They’re cute and tiny and look so harmless. Yet, they can wreak havoc on your garden in ways that you don’t want! Typically, deer, raccoons, or groundhogs tend to be the ones people complain about. They eat all sorts of things in your garden, and often it’s hard to prevent. Rabbits can be just as bad, and even sneakier due to their size. There are quite a few ways to deal with pest control if rabbits have become a nuisance in your garden.
Sometimes it can be difficult to identify whether it’s a rabbit or some other type of pest who’s causing the problems in your garden. Look for things that have been consumed or chewed at the very lowest ground level. They’ll often nibble on the edges of leaves or stems. The smaller the plant is, the more likely a rabbit is to chew on it. Another tell-tale sign of the need for rabbit pest control is if you the tiny, round rabbit droppings.
While you might be tempted to go all Mr. McGregor on the rabbits and chase them out of your garden with a garden rake, there are other options. Rabbits are intelligent creatures and sometimes keeping them away from your precious vegetables can be quite a challenge.
Rabbit Pest Control 101
Feed Them
Before you start to panic, we’re not telling you to buy rabbit food and give that to them. However, you can grow things that the rabbits will be naturally drawn to. They absolutely love clover and alfalfa. Allow a large patch of both to grow in a separate area of your yard. This will draw attention away from your vegetables. You can plant clover seed very easily, anywhere in your yard.
You can also plant alfalfa seed in a separate corner of your yard to serve as a decoy. Those rabbits won’t even look twice at your veggies with all that delicious alfalfa growing!
If Feeding Doesn’t Work…
So if the alfalfa and clover don’t work, there are other options.
Cover Your Crops
If there are any specific crops you’re having trouble with, you might want to actually cover them with garden fabric. It’s pretty easy to just lay this over your plants, and it won’t restrict their growth. If you need more space, you can use hoops to lift the fabric above the plants. However, this will require more installation on your part.
Fence Them In
Fencing is another easy solution to the rabbit pest control problem. Chicken wire is inexpensive and easy to put up. Simply use wooden or metal stakes and drive them into the ground. This can serve as the support to wrap your chicken wire around. You will want to extend the wire into the ground about 4-6″. Rabbits are experts at burrowing and they’ll totally find a way around your fencing if you don’t do this. It’s a pain but worth it in the long run, if rabbits are that big of a problem for you. Some rabbits are overly bold and actually find a way to jump over the fence. If you notice this is a problem, bend the top of the fence inward. This should keep those pesky little buggers out of your vegetables.
It can be really frustrating to work hard on your vegetable crop only to have them eaten by rabbits. Investing a bit of time to keep them out of your crops is totally worth it in order to avoid your rabbits having an early Thanksgiving dinner. Best of luck keeping those adorable but pesky little creatures out of your garden and hopping around your yard where they belong!
