ok, so how to I keep rabbits out?

[marenmj]

we have quite a large garden and I don't mind them roaming the rest of the garden as they are [relatively] harmless little cottontails and charming to watch over morning tea. I don't even mind planting a few of my extra seeds around elsewhere for them to munch as the majority of the land is overgrown.

But how do I keep them out of the vegetable patch? Would a small stone fence do? I think they are small enough to get through the slats of a wood fence, and I don't want them digging under it either. And no, I am not willing to spread my (or anyone else's) wee around the garden as a detterent.

I'd also like a way to keep small children and pets out too, as slugs are a huge [snerk, largest slugs I have ever seen in my life] problem and I have lost a loveable, but rather dim pet to slug poison before. Even the 'nice' traps - like beer - aren't something I want anyone to get at without supervision.

well, a small fence with a mesh behind it, or stone wall as you suggest would be ok but you would need to either make it fairly high or put some mesh over the top too so that they don't jump over it

And also dig the mash deep into the ground otherwise they will burrow beneath it.

thank you, much obliged

hopefully if there is plenty of nice things for them to eat elsewhere they will consider the veg patch too much trouble to get into!

yeah you could just grow some extra veg round the edge for them!

that's the plan!

I have been reading, and liking, "Gaia's Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture" and was inspired when he said that he planted a "deer hedge" on the edge of his property - with lots of wild things the deer like to eat on the outside, and domestic varieties grafted to grow on the inside. The idea was that by the time the deer had eaten their way to the end of the hedge (and entrance to his garden) they would be full and uninterested in eating his plants.

I don't know if that is applicable to me, but on five acres of overgrown woodland there will be a LOT of critters, and trying to keep them out of my veg patch while still letting them live and be happy is going to be a big challenge.

marenmj - to be blunt, I would not put any money on keeping them out of your garden by planting interesting things around the outside. Rabbits are seriously good at getting through fences etc, and you need to really do it right to have a hope of keeping them out - and that includes really burying the netting properly.

Natural England have a good leaflet that you can download for free here - they're talking about fencing woodland, but the fence specifications need to be at least as good to keep them out of veg patches.

We use electric netting and then back it up with cage traps inside the netting to catch any that get through.

You need a pretty serious fence to keep them out - I think its something like 18 inches high plus 6 inches buried. We have one regularly in my garden at the moment - a circle like that is keeping him off the tree which seems to be tastiest, but my "wild-flower garden" area has turned out to be the "salad bar" in his eyes, apart from St Johns Wort which he doesn't seem to fancy for some reason.

I don't think "sacrficial" plants will make much difference to regular groups of bunnies, as they will work their way through those and then start on the next course.

Bunnies are garden guerillas dressed in sweet little fluffy bunny suits to sucker you into thinking they are really rather delightful when actually they are laughing at you as they devstate your garden. If you really want to keep them out then you need to take off the rose tinted-specs and install proper Rabbit Fencing. Splash the cash. If you have raised veg beds you can erect netting over and around each bed separately, but be warned - they send their cute little bunny babies through quite small holes to munch on your seedlings.

Bitter? Moi? pass the rabbit stew...

On a more positive note, if you're not vegetarian, you can't get a more permaculture dinner . . .

LOL @ rabbit stew... I had actually considered as a measure of population control

I don't mind being really serious about fencing for my veg patch. I'm just being practical; since the rest of the lot (5 acres) is woodland -aside from where the house is sitting- my hopes of waging war on the scourge rabbits and winning is very small.

Might as well keep my sanity and do my best to keep them out of that one, small area, and accept that everything else will be fair game. Blackberries grow wild here, and we have a few large thickets. Putting in the work to keep them out of the veg patch will be worth it imo, especially if they aren't desperate to get in.

I had hoped a stone fence (with buried mesh below) would solve the problem of them sneaking through the netting and look a bit nicer to boot.

And what I meant by putting extra seeds away from the veg patch, I meant the last few orphans in the pack after you have done your planting that are too few to properly label and store, but that I always feel terrible about tossing.

oh, and thank you for the leaflet, Takver.

I have also found some good information here

We too are over run with the little buggers, sorry, furry darlings. Our veg patch has so far been secure from them as we have done the following:

1. Made raised beds - for our convenience, not 'cos I thought it would put them off.

1. Fenced it all round with a fence low enough to step over - it's about 2' high, and then nailed chicken wire to it.

1. At ground level the wire is folded inwards, with tarpaulin over it.

1. On top of the tarpaulin, which is all round the 4 boxes are slate pieces, to hold it down and act as a mulch.

It's quite a big area we have fenced off - about 40' long and 10' wide and so far has done the trick. I know the bunnies are there as there is pooey evidence, but fingers crossed veggies are safe, and this is the end of our 3rd year.

When we were constructing it a passer by said "what a nice rabbit run that will make" and was a bit taken aback by our response!