The majority of people view rabbits as merely a cute, little threat to carrot patches. However, these furry animals with long ears have an insatiable hunger for all kinds of young plants. In fact, the list of plants that rabbits enjoy is absurdly extensive. They can cause significant harm to a garden’s plant life. Therefore, precautionary measures should be taken to protect the plants that one really likes in a garden.
In addition to fencing, there are some traditional remedies and alternative options to keep rabbits out of the garden area. So, do you have rabbits in your garden? In this blog post, we’ll tell you about different physical, chemical, and natural ways to keep rabbits out of your garden.
Why Do Rabbits Like Gardens?
Rabbits like home gardens because they love to munch on delicious foods from orchards and veggie gardens. They feed on fresh grass, veggies, leaves, fruits, and flowers from gardens in the spring and summer. In fall and winter, they survive on twigs, bark, and seeds. Most often, the homeowners’ favorite foods are also the rabbits’ favorites. Some bunnies may even feel at home enough to use a garden for nesting.
Of course, there are other wild creatures that nibble on leaves and shrubs as well as soft vegetation. The known attackers are raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, and woodchucks. However, if you notice any neatly eaten leaves, gnawed bark of trees, or pellet-shaped droppings in the vicinity of your garden, the rabbit is most likely to be blamed. You can confirm it by looking for little tangible footprints of rabbits on the ground.
What Type of Damage Can Rabbits Do to Gardens?
Rabbits enjoy mowing down gardens, which causes significant damage to them. They can result in a significant infestation of a food or vegetable garden because they reproduce quickly. Even while rabbits can ruin a garden at any time of year, their invasion in the early spring is particularly upsetting since they ruthlessly devour the tender, fresh green shoots of the plant. They consume bark during the winter, which harms woody plants.
Flowers are also edible to rabbits. Tulip flower shoots are their favorite. They destroy all new saplings and seedlings while grazing close to the earth. All forms of vegetation, including leaves, shoots, and roots, are susceptible to injury by rabbits. They dig burrows under the ground and have the ability to harm any plant that gets in their way when burrowing.
How to Keep Rabbits Out of Garden Using Physical Barriers
Physical barriers are used to prevent the harm that rabbits can do to a garden. The best approaches to doing this are as follows:
1. Fence Your Garden
The most effective way to keep rabbits out of the garden has been fencing. You must use a fence that is at least 2 feet tall and that extends at least 6 inches below the ground’s surface. The rabbits won’t be able to hop over the fence or dig a tunnel under it. Wire mesh with 1 or ½-inch diameter holes makes the best rabbit fencing. If your garden is already fenced, you can attach the wire mesh fencing to the current fencing for improved barrier properties. The alternative is to use chicken wire installed in the same manner as before to secure each of your individual raised plant beds, vegetables, and trees.
2. Remove Nesting Spots
Want to keep rabbits out of your garden? Well! Making the ideal nesting spot for a female rabbit unintentionally is the last thing you want to do. Although rabbits like European rabbits live in burrows, there are other non-burrowing rabbit species as well. These rabbits create “forms,” which are little surface nests in the form of bowls. In order to hide from view, rabbits typically build their forms beneath an existing cover, such as in dense grass or close to fencing. Sometimes, these nests are found underneath decks or porches. So, if your garden has such a nesting spot, try to remove it without harming any rabbits.
3. Hang Noise Makers
Being prey animals, rabbits are easily scared away by loud noises. Since they are so sensitive to noise, you can use noisemakers to drive them out of your garden. The long ears of rabbits themselves are something that can help you with this method. You can hang cowbells, multiple tin cans on strings, or wind chimes on the periphery of your garden. Whenever the wind blows, these items will clatter, make noise, and frighten rabbits away from your garden.
4. Use Visual Obstacles
If you experience a rabbit or two in your garden only once in a while, you can use visual deterrents to scare them away. According to legend, rabbits are afraid of seeing their own reflection. So, you can use pre-made reflectors available in different garden supply stores to scare them away. Or you may try an old-fashioned rabbit scaring remedy and place big, transparent glass jars of water around your garden. In addition to reflectors, other visual deterrents like scarecrows, crouched cats, rubber snakes, and ominous owl statues all work pretty well. But remember, if rabbits come to your garden often, they will eventually adapt to these deterrents and will no longer be afraid of them. In such a case, you must try another alternative to drive them away.
How to Keep Rabbits Out of Garden Using Chemical Repellents
You can use both commercially available and homemade chemical repellents to keep rabbits away from your garden. Here’s how they work:
5. Use Rabbit Repellent Sprays
Certain plants that are susceptible to rabbit damage can be treated with chemical or organic repellents. These repellents are readily available in the form of ready-to-use sprays. Most of them are odor or taste modifiers that apparently make the plants unpalatable to rabbits. Some commercial rabbit repellent sprays also render vegetables, fruits, and herbs unsuitable for human consumption. So check all the ingredients carefully before purchasing.
You can also make a DIY rabbit repellent spray at home by following an online recipe. While these sprays can provide some protection, they are not as effective as commercial repellents. Also, homemade repellents are usually only effective for a short period of time, especially after a storm or after watering your plants, after which they need reapplication.
6. Try Home Remedies
Some experienced gardeners have tried certain home remedies to keep rabbits out of the garden. For example:
- Sprinkle shavings of Ivory or Irish spring soap around your garden. The soap shavings will deter the rabbits and discourage them from coming to your garden again.
- Lightly sprinkle the garden bed with black pepper or crushed red pepper. When rabbits sniff the ground, they inhale the pepper. The capsaicin in pepper irritates rabbits and keeps them from coming back.
- Sprinkle your garden with garlic powder or onion powder. The smell of onions and garlic deters the rabbits away.
How to Keep Rabbits Out of Garden Using Natural Repellents
The following are some other natural methods to keep rabbits out of your garden:
7. Spread Human Hair or Dried Blood Meal
Gardeners have historically used human hair or dried blood meal to lure rabbits away from their garden plants. The secret is to surround all of your plants with dried blood meal or human hair as early as possible in the growing season. If there’s rainfall, you may repeat the process for the best results. But bear in mind that you should never use blood meals if you have pets. The dogs will start digging up your garden and will destroy your plants when they smell blood.
8. Take Help From Predators
Although rabbits inevitably attract the attention of some wild predators, you can also scare them away with the help of predators at home. Yes! Having a dog or cat in the vicinity of your garden can effectively deter rabbits and other garden pests. If your family dog with a hunting instinct roams around your fenced-in yard, rabbits probably won’t eat any of your favorite plants.
Similarly, house cats roaming the garden can also prove to be yard guardians. If you don’t have a dog or cat, you can easily trick your rabbit into believing there are predators in your home. To do this, get dog or cat hair from your local groomer and spread it around your yard. As we mentioned earlier, hair will force the rabbits to leave your garden.
9. Grow Plants Bunnies Don’t Like
If you suspect rabbit populations in your neighborhood, you should grow plants that rabbits don’t like to begin with. A rabbit will eat any vegetable plant, with the probable exception of asparagus, potatoes, and onions. Similarly, growing herbs like basil, mint, oregano, or parsley in your garden may make it less enticing for rabbits. This is not a guaranteed method, though. Because a hungry rabbit will consume practically anything.
Some other plants that rabbits don’t like include:
- Woody plants like butterfly bush, Japanese maple, mountain laurel, Tatarian dogwood, etc.
- Perennial plants like Adam’s needle, foam flower, meadow rue, peony, primrose, etc.
- Annual plants like the four o’clock flower, spider flower, wax begonia, Mexican ageratum, etc.
- Bulbs like daffodils, hyacinths, and Persian onions.
Final Thoughts
If you don’t want your favorite plants to be damaged, it’s important to take preventive measures against the entry of rabbits into your garden. You can use fencing, noisemakers, or visual deterrents to keep rabbits at bay. But if they have already made their way into your vegetable garden, it’s time to try some methods to make them leave. These include using rabbit repellent sprays, home remedies, or your pet predators to keep rabbits out of your garden.
