Rascally rabbits

“How did you find out how to get in there!?” I yelled. This heart’s cry burst from me Sunday evening, when I spied a rabbit inside the vegetable garden, which is surrounded by what’s supposed to be a rabbit-proof fence. The startled rabbit made a quick exit under the gate. 

Eastern cottontail rabbit-photo Gareth Rasberry

    Getting closer, I could see it had dug a shallow trench that enabled it to slip under. The bottom bar of the gate is two inches above the ground. Wire fencing hanging an inch lower attempts to block the opening, but with nothing underneath but diggable soil, it was a matter of time before some enterprising rabbit would make it through. This one had finally solved the problem.

The rabbit figured out how to slip under the gate

    Traveling around the state talking to fellow gardeners has taught me that the number one question on people’s minds is how they can keep wildlife, especially rabbits, from destroying their plants. I feel pretty useless when people ask for my solution to this problem. All I know to recommend is installing a wire rabbit fence and planting clover.

    In the last few years, rabbits have become permanent residents in my yard. They chomp newly emerging perennials down to the ground in early spring. Marigold seedlings I planted in June have lost all their leaves. The hallmark of rabbit damage is clean cuts. With both upper and lower incisors, they can slice off stems and leaves as effectively as handheld clippers.

Marigold stripped by rabbit's teeth

    The eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus, ranges across the Americas, from southern Canada to South America and from the east coast as far west as New Mexico. Each rabbit defends about half an acre of territory. As we know, they’re good at reproducing.

    Various authorities recommend plants that rabbits supposedly don’t eat. My credulity is undermined by seeing the same herbs listed as attractive and unattractive to rabbits. 

Basil either attracts or repels rabbits

Bunnies reportedly don’t like the smells of onions and garlic. Home remedies circulate for spraying plants with concoctions of these and repeating the process after every rain. Even proponents of these deterrents admit that when food is short and population pressure high, rabbits will eat whatever they can, even if it tastes nasty. 

    In wild places, rabbits eat grass in summer, twigs and bark in winter. They live in young forests, where they find shrubs and small trees interspersed with open space—sort of like typical suburban yards. I do find that they like to eat clover, and I believe that filling in bare patches in the lawn with clover seed helps a bit to keep rabbits out of the perennial beds.

Rabbits are welcome to nibble clover in the lawn

    Then there’s that supposedly impenetrable wire fence, the one buried a foot deep so they couldn’t tunnel under—except at the gate. I’m willing to share the rest of the yard, but I cherished the hope of keeping rabbits out of the vegetable garden. 

 

Lettuce for humans, not for rabbits

Next week’s task will be to set in bricks under the two gates. Am I smarter than a determined rabbit? Time will tell.