Those Wascally Wabbits!

[applestar]

I have rabbit fences around some of my veg garden areas. These 28-30" high fences are cleverly designed with closely spaced openings towards the bottom to keep the baby bunnies out, and larger spaced openings towards the top that would keep the adult rabbits out... In theory.

They had been, in fact, working very well -- until last year when I found a rabbit inside an enclosure and when I chased it, it ran around in a panic then eventually hopped out through one of the upper openings. ...I thought that was an accident.

Today, I saw a rabbit sit up on its haunches, measure the distance, and deliberately hop through one of the upper openings of the rabbit fence.

When I chased it, although it panicked a little bit, it didn't take long to find its chance to hop through an upper opening to get away.

In addition, I put up a long deer fence along the back fence because it's an old 3-rail split rail fence with a chicken wire blocking the bottom half that groundHOGS have been able to climb over. But I heard some leaves rustling and looked over to see a rabbit casually cross along the ground from the woods beyond the split rail to inside of our backyard property line... apparently without encountering obstruction of any kind. In fact, as the sun set and twilight fell, there were two of them merrily chasing each other in and out of our back yard.

First order of business in the morning -- walk an inspection tour along the back fence and assess the situation. Then the fun begins.

I was going to enclose a new garden bed area with rabbit fence... Obviously none of that now. So two major fencing projects to accomplish before gardening season gets into full swing.

Oops gotta go -- it's starting to rain and I have windows open!

[shadylane]

I find being an "Elmer Fudd" myself lately with the same problem..My fenceing is somewhat old and plans of re-doing are obvious. I have found diggs for nesting and that's not going to happen. I'm thinking of burring chicken fence a foot down at the bottom, and another railing type behind it. We will have to see what else can be done.

[rainbowgardener]

I do have rabbits this year and the return of the groundHOG. I am currently considering fencing options before I plant anything else, to be just critter food. I have usually done just deer netting, which works pretty well, if you make sure it is nailed down top and bottom. But it is kind of a pain to work with. I have to buy new, because I threw out what I had, which was a tangled mess after being used several seasons.

So now I am considering something a bit more solid... but I don't know. To try to protect the tomatoes from raccoons, it has to be a total enclosure, because they can climb ANYTHING. So maybe a solid fence with deer netting over the top?

Sigh... I am getting tired of my little inner city garden and long for a real garden with actual flat space and a big fence around it...

[LA47]

I wonder how well one of the motion activated sprinklers would work? I never tried one but kind of looked at it once for all the feral cats that would use my garden as a large kitty litter box. They run from $40 on up, and cover about 1000 sq. feet.

[tomf]

I put up a deer fence with a chicken wire fence at the bottom, so far so good on them, but the moles found a way under the chicken wire. Shadylane yes bury it one foot deep.
I have read mixed reviews on the sprinklers, they work for a time until the critters get used to them.

[RogueRose]

I have yet to see the groundhogs come back this year...I'm sure they're there though. I have seen a bunny but they never seemed to bother my garden...yet...:::knock on wood::: They seem to stick to the lawn. I am trying the vertical garden to keep the hogs out of my lettuce...so we'll see how that works. I am not growing melons of any sort this year since they turned out funny tasting and the hogs were all into them. Nothing has ever bothered my corn. I do got to figure out something to do with the maters...the hogs did get into those.

[shadylane]

I put up a deer fence with a chicken wire fence at the bottom, so far so good on them, but the moles found a way under the chicken wire. Shadylane yes bury it one foot deep.
I have read mixed reviews on the sprinklers, they work for a time until the critters get used to them.

Thank you tomf for the reassurance, I will measure, gather supplies and start it out. I thought to take the shovel and make a wide incision, unrolling and placing the wire into it as I went a long then cover, finishing by attaching it to the larger fence...thats the plan now waiting for the weather to change.

[RogueRose]

All this talks about wabbits has awoken my rabbits! I saw one today and he was in the garden for quite a bit. He mostly stays on the lawn though - not there's anything in any of the garden beds yet. I let my cat loose on him...its always funny because my cat is NOT an outdoor cat but he likes to think he is. He likes to chase things but no way will he ever get close to them. At least the big black furball can strike fear into the rabbits!

[rainbowgardener]

I bought plastic mesh fencing for 2 of my raised beds (so far). It is flexible not totally rigid, but not just netting. It cost me $3.64 for a roll 4' x 25' and then I got metal fence posts with U hooks for 3.25 ea. So fencing in one bed with 6 posts cost about $24. But the plastic should last a number of season and the posts should last for-more-or-less-ever. So we will see how it works. So far so good. It's been up a couple days and nothing more has disappeared from those beds yet. I bent it over so it runs along the ground inside the bed for an inch or so and used earth staples to fasten it down. OK for now, but once I have big tomato plants, I probably still do have to have something over the top....

[Dillbert]

last year we had a baby bunny grow up in the totally fenced back yard. first discovered when mowing - itty bitty baby bunny running full tilt for the cover of the bushes.

incredibly, it was very polite. it ate clover in the grass all day long and left my garden alone - and I had a veritable rabbit feast on offer - peas, beans, lettuce, beets, tomato. . . .

I would see the rabbit nearly every day. one day I started walking toward the rabbit, just to see the reaction. it flattened its ears and made like a furry pancake in the tallish grass. seeing howas we seemed to have a nice gardener-wrabbity-detente I decided not to push it.

DW thinks it chomped on the peas - well, I did find two nibbled pea vines. two....yeah, that not a wrabbit.....

one day I saw it duck under the fence at a low spot. put a rock there. no more rabbit.

>>Plastic fencing. . . last a number of seasons
or one bunny chew. seriously, short of metal / wire, they can chomp thru a lot of stuff....

[valley]

We have rabbits at the Nevada ranch. The fence keeps out the horses not the rabbits. I've decided to eat them.

[applestar]

I was weeding the rabbit-fenced area enclosing my little rice paddy -- This is the area I saw that rabbit deliberately jumping in. In addition to the rice paddy, I have a long, tall trellised bed along the house that L's to a short trellised bed along the back of the garage, as well as a triangular section. This is also where my spearmint patch is located.

The bed along the house/garage is where I discovered the soil is infected with club-root a couple of years ago. I have parsnips and wintered over parsnips and S. chard there, feom last year, as well as garlic along the length of the bed. I was contemplating letting the cover crop winter rye grow to maturity there this year since I read that this is good against club root.

Oh, ANYWAY, I realized the rye was shading the garlic and decided I won't kill the rye outright but hand "mow" it and use the "clippings" to mulch the empty area between the rye and the garlic. So realize the area had been pretty lush with vegetation.

...OK, FINALLY getting to the point -- I discovered a scooped out hole stuffed with grass and rabbit fur. "Are you kidding me? Is this a NEST." -- poke around -- 8 WIGGLING, KICKING baby bunny feet!!

I got the kids and we poked around some more -- they were enchanted to see the little bunny ears through the grass covering. Hopefully, we didn't disturb too much. Initially thought they were pink and naked, but the bunny ears were furry so older than originally feared.

But what to do now.... Was planning to plant sweet potatoes in the triangular bed (that's not till late May/early June), and winter squash in the front part (mid-late May) after expanding a bit, bananas and pineapple in the ground around the rice paddy (mid-May). Of course the rice which I hear bunnies love WAS going in the paddy , but I was also thinking of taking a break and letting the paddy go "fallow" this year....

[tomf]

WOW a rice paddy.
Rainbow, at first I only had the deer fence up around my garden, it is made of a very strong kind of plastic. The rabbits chewed holes through it and got in, so I put the chicken wire at the bottom of the fence.

[mscratch]

I have one rabbit living under the shed, poor thing is quite old by its appearance and I don't know how it made it thru the winter or past the coyotes. I think the garden is fenced in well enough to keep it out. On the other hand I found a chipmunk living in my VW beetle! And our herd of moles seems to be prospering very well. No sign of last years groundhog so I suppose the Grandson and the pellet rifle worked.