How to Protect Your Garden From Rabbits Naturally

Rabbits will eat their way through any garden, not just one full of carrots. Protect your garden using these nontoxic methods.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Hardware Cloths
• Rabbit Repellents
• Kitty Litters
• 3/4-inch Wire Meshes

1. Determine if rabbits have moved into your yard. Look for round pellet-sized droppings, bark stripped from small trees and shrubs, and nibbled leaves.

2. Surround your garden with 3/4 wire mesh. Fences should be 2 to 3 feet high aboveground and at least 1 foot deep underground to stop rabbits from burrowing beneath the fencing.

3. Add 1-foot mesh extensions under existing fences.

4. Bend the top 6 inches of mesh outward to stop rabbits from getting over the top of the fence.

5. Surround individual plants and shrubs with mesh cylinders sized for each plant.

6. Wrap the base of young trees with hardware cloth to a height of 2 feet to stop the rabbits from feeding on the tender bark.

7. Plant clovers, grasses and other plants that rabbits readily feed upon far away from your prized shrubs.

8. Spray nontoxic rabbit repellents on all plants and vegetation. Reapply every two weeks or after rainfall.

9. Spread used kitty litter throughout the garden once a week to scare the skittish rabbits away.

10. Move bird seed and feeders away from prized gardens, especially in the winter, when plants and leaves are more scarce. The fallen seeds are a delicacy to rabbits and may attract more than birds to your garden.

Tips & Warnings

• Because rabbits are such prolific breeders, it doesn't do a whole lot of good to set traps unless the whole neighborhood is involved. If rabbits are a big regional problem, check with your local community action center to see if any cooperative efforts are in place.

• Before you kill a rabbit, contact a local fish and game agency. You may need a permit to "hunt" them.