Rabbit-Proof the Garden
I like bunnies. But the local rabbits pulled off a few too many raids on my vegetable garden. If my garden is going to produce any veggies for me to eat, I need to protect it from those furry bandits.
So I'm trying a two-fold strategy. In one section of the garden, my vegetables grow in containers and raised beds. The beds and containers are tall enough (at least 18 inches) so that the rabbits can't reach the plants.
A fence surrounds the main garden area. Originally I tried plastic poultry-netting for the fence. It's easy to use. However rabbits can chew through plastic. It took my bunnies a year to discover this. One extension service agent recommends using a double layer of plastic netting to discourage chewing. But I've switched to a chicken wire fence. Chicken wire, hardware cloth and metal screening make good rabbit barriers that can't be chewed.
Tie the fencing material to stakes every few feet for support. The fence should be about 2 feet tall (or 3 feet tall if you have jackrabbits). Bury another 6 to 12 inches of netting or chicken wire. Slznt half of it outward at a horizontal angle to keep the rabbits from burrowing
The openings in the netting or chicken wire should be no bigger than one inch. Bunnies are good at squeezing through small spaces.
Protect small trees in the winter so that rabbits won't eat the bark. Wrap a loose circle of hardware cloth or chicken wire around the trunk. Make sure that the barrier will be higher than your usual snowline..
Now that my garden is safe, I can enjoy the antics of my backyard bunnies.