HelpfulGardener.com

"Dig a 2 ft wide 3 ft deep ditch around your garden."

You are joking of course?

I think I'm the weirdo in this group. I love it when rabbits come to my yard. I love rabbits. They are sweet animals.

I have rabbits, birds, squirrels, toads, moles and sometimes turtles. I saw 1 squirrel today I hope my cat does not kill it. I like the animals there is enough food in my garden for everyone except the 7 deer I often see at sun rise, they eat too much. I don't have enough boards left or the time or energy to put up another deer fence this year. I need to put up some squirrel nesting boxes.

Thanks everybody for suggestions. We live in city but still get quite a few rabbits I joke with my wife that next time I see rabbit in garden we having rabbit stew. Yummy. But seriously I tried different things but have read some great new ideas here.

I guess I am glad I don't have to deal with a lot of wildlife. I don't have rabbits, voles, moles, chipmunks, foxes, coyotes, or deer. I don't have mongoose, at least not in my yard. I haven't had to deal with feral chickens in a while (knocking on wood).

My biggest problems are birds, mainly non native birds, that were released or escaped as pets and are now pests. Bulbuls, mejiro, society finches, java rice birds, cardinals ( two kinds ), doves, and while I have not had any problems from the rose ringed parakeet, they are also in the neighborhood. They wreak havoc because except for cats, they don't have any real predators to control their populations.

I do have cats, but they are indoor cats. There is a feral cat that comes through my yard that is helping to keep the birds at bay. I do agree that cats are both predator and prey. They do wreak havoc on native birds here as well since Hawaii had few predators and the Hawaiian birds nest on the ground. There aren't that many native birds in the urban environment.

Other aliens species like wild pigs, mongoose, and competition from non native bird and alien plants are a threat to the native flora and fauna. DLNR, uses fences, and volunteers regularly go into the forests to weed out invasive plants that out compete natives.

The Maui fire was partly related to the prolonged drought and the end of the plantation era with the empty fields now covered in non native grasses that no one manages. The fire in Mililani was also partly drought driven and may also have been caused by human carelessness.