Wascally Wabbits

[Lannie]

I plant seeds. I tend them carefully. They sprout. I get all excited. I take very good care of my tiny little seedlings in their tiny little pots, making sure they get enough light and just enough water. They grow big and strong. I plant them in the garden. And the rabbits eat them.

I put out the rest of my seedlings yesterday on a perfect day for transplanting. It was humid, cloudy, and not windy. Perfect. I lined up all my little cabbage and lettuce seedlings, watered them well, mulched them, and tucked them in for the night, and this morning when I went to see how they fared, all I had left were a few lettuce seedlings. Every stinkin' one of the cabbages was gone. Just a bit of stem left poking up... I'm pretty sure the rest of the lettuce will be gone by later today.

What a waste of time.

The rabbits are getting through or under the fencing we put around the garden (OK, it's not Fort Knox, but we thought it was sufficient). Cowboy chases the rabbits he sees, but he can't get into the garden because of the fencing. And if I take the fencing down so he can run the bunnies off, the chickens will get in and eat everything. And Cowboy won't run the chickens off.

I'm wondering if I should just give up gardening and focus on animals only. The only problem is that we're so far out that we can't run to the store for fresh veggies, and my garden is our only source of fresh produce in the summer. We COULD get something at the store, but we only go once a month, so it would be an intermittent thing. I really love being able to go out to the garden and actually pick something for dinner. I mean, how fresh is THAT? But maybe I should just not have a garden, at least for a few years. Maybe the bunnies will move on if I'm not providing them with a constant source of nourishment, eh?

~Lannie

[Leimana]

there are a lot of remedies for rabbits. supposedly blood meal keeps them away, although I have no personal experience with this. Got any logs or tin you could line the bottom of your fence with? Go Elmer Fudd on those wabbits! You gotta have vegetables too!

[Tim in NY]

Get a headlamp and go out right after dusk with a .22. Their eyes shine and they tend to sit tight so you can get a good shot. It isn't sportsmanlike but its the easiest way to get the ones that like your vegetables. I'd think something like the 1x2 welded wire would keep rabbits out mostly, can you get anything like that? I have seen cottontails go right through 2 inch "chicken wire" like it wasn't even there, doesn't pose an obstacle to them.

[Lannie]

Oh, we don't have to wait until dusk or dark. These rabbits don't run. Rich made me a chickenwire fence on stakes to go around the lettuce/cabbage bed, and while we were out there putting it up, the rabbit (I think it's the same one) came out from the hedge and sat there 10 feet away, watching us. Since neither one of us had thought to bring a gun, Rich lobbed one of the pointed stakes at him, javelin style. Missed. The bunny ran off about 3 feet and took up station again watching us.

He'd gotten the tops of the lettuce seedlings by the time we went out to put up the fence, but didn't kill them. The lettuce will grow back. But he LOVES that cabbage. He ate all the tops last night or this morning and after I found that, when I went out a little later, even the little stems were gone. And I was SO looking forward to sauerkraut this year. Oh, well, there's always next year.

In the meantime, we're going to take the .22 out whenever we go out, and the rabbits' days are numbered. I wish they'd just leave, it's not like there's nothing else to eat around here - it's lush and green everywhere - and I hate to kill something, but darn it, I NEED some veggies this year. I'm going to come down with some horrible disease if I don't get some fresh vegetables and fruit soon!

Bre'r Rabbit has been nibbling the leaves on my bean seedlings, too, but not very many. I want the bunnies gone by the time my curcubits start blooming, though. The last couple of years, they've eaten all the flowers and although the plants were hale and hearty, there were no flowers, ergo no cukes or squash.

~Lannie

[rence]

I don't have any experience with this but I heard that if you put dog hair in the garden or around it, it will deter them because they're terrified of dogs. Has anyone had experience doing this? I wonder if it actually works....?

[Lannie]

Ha. They're only terrified of a dog if the dog is actually in the act of chasing them at the moment. Cowboy chases the ones he sees, but there are a lot he doesn't see. I have to somehow teach him to look where I POINT. And the rabbits know the dog can't get through the garden fence, so they have carte blanche in there. Rabbits ain't no stoopid.

Before I had stuff planted out, I was letting Cowboy in the garden to make it scary for the bunnies, but now that I have seedlings out there, I don't want his big feet running through the beds, so he doesn't get to go in the garden now. It took the bunnies about 3 days to figure out the garden was a "safe" zone again.

There's some stuff I saw at a garden store once that was supposedly guaranteed to repel both deer and rabbits, but it was obscenely expensive, so I didn't get any. However, if I have another summer like the last 3, I might have to break down and try that stuff. At least I don't have to worry about the deer with Cowboy around. ;D

~Lannie

[Jenn]

What a about a morning "perimeter" walk with Cowboy in the garden? If you put him on leash, is there a safe aisle?
-Jenn

[Leimana]

I just read if you plant onions amongst you cabbages it will deter rabbits.

[Shawn]

At this point the only thing I can suggest is this:

www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=24022&cat_id=118

sorry, an expensive proposition, though.

[Lannie]

LOL, Shawn! I could buy a lot of cabbages for $150.00!

The chickenwire and stakes right around the lettuce bed is working (it was free, made from extras lying around). I have been taking Cowboy in the garden with me in the mornings to walk around, and so far haven't seen any bunnies. Several of them out front in and around the lilac hedges, but none in the garden anyway for the last few days or so. Of course, when the cukes and squash bloom, or I start getting tomatoes, it could be a different story.

What we SHOULD have done was use a smaller gauge chicken wire (Julia bought it and she got the 2" opening kind...), and buried it. But it was so hot when we were putting it up and the ground was so hard... We knew how we should have done it but we just didn't have the ooomph to do it. Now we have to live with the consequences. I've already told Rich, though, that if we continue to have a rabbit problem in there this summer, we're getting some of that "guaranteed" deer and rabbit repellant. He thinks it's cougar pee, which is about the only thing he can think of that would be guaranteed to work. Of course, if it IS cougar pee, and I have to dribble it around the garden on the corral side, what will that do to the horses and cows? Stay tuned... it could get interestin'!

~Lannie

[Deleted]

The people in Maine have a lot of problems with bunnies. They put a couple strings of hot wire around their gardens (pretty low) and use a large battery for the power. It works well and isn't that expensive.
I have also heard of taking dog hair and attaching it at intervals along the fence line low enough for foxes and things to get a "whiff" of it. I have a collie with an excess amount of hair and may just do it here just to keep the foxes from coming inside our perimeter but for now it is raining too much.
Sorry about your vegies. We don't go to the store much either and depend on our own vegies when we have them.

Janet

[Jenn]

It probably is cougar pee...
Um.....I have heard...um...not tried it myself, of course....um....
Well, to be blunt, maybe just send Rich out there to pee around the garden.
-Jenn

[Alysha]

If is male pee you need my hubby and boys are always willing to whip it out and pee on something for a good cause.. Ha Ha LOL. I could use a vacation from them and sending them ur way to pee around your garden may be killing two birds with one stone.. LOL I forgot to mention that I have 5 sons all ready and able although their aim at times is sometimes off.

[Lannie]

Hmmm... I wonder if I could get them to do a little digging in between peeing?

So far, so good... I've been walking the garden with Cowboy in the mornings, and if I have a few minutes extra, in the evenings. He's a good boy - he's been peeing on the shrubbery also. I have to stop him from peeing on my herbs, though. LOL! I now have tons of big beautiful squash flowers, the cukes are starting to bloom and make eenie-weenie baby cucumbers, and the tomatoes, peppers, and beans are also flowering. I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to harvest SOMETHING this summer! That would be SO nice!

~Lannie