I read “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” just like everyone else, and loved the drawings, the live action movie, and the series of stuffed animals that came out many decades later.
While reading the book, I sympathize with Peter and Flopsy and Mopsy. But when it comes to cottontails making free with my home garden, I am strictly Team Mr. McGregor.
It can be discouraging to plant a flat of flower seedlings and have them disappear overnight, nothing but nubs in the morning.
As a veteran vegetable gardener, I find it just as disheartening to have row upon row of bush beans sprout, grow an inch or two, and then get consumed in the space of a day.
What’s a gardener to do with these cute little pests?
I’m happy to report that there are solutions. You don’t have to resort to hunting these critters, either. (Sorry, Elmer Fudd.)
Instead, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with rabbit behavior. That will help you to understand and provide ways to thwart their “all the garden’s my salad bar” habits without violence.
Careful plant selection and neatening up your yard and garden are right up there, too. Live and let live? I’ve got a couple of suggestions for ways to have a flourishing garden and coexist with the occasional bunny intruder, too.
IS THAT REALLY RABBIT DAMAGE?
There’s a slim chance that the damage you’re observing on your young flower seedlings or vegetable sprouts was done by another pest.
I had that happen to me when I assumed rabbits were chomping away huge bites of my springtime greens (pictured above).
But ragged bites and holes in greens or other plants, that’s just not a rabbit’s style. That type of plant damage comes from slugs or snails.
Rabbits are much more precise. They cut completely through the main stem of a seedling, and the results look like they used scissors, not their sharp teeth.
If you’ve got nothing but nubs, that is probably rabbit damage.
Cottontails will also gnaw at the bark of young trees. You can tell that it’s them, not deer, because their marks only go up a couple of feet at the most.
You can confirm that they’re doing the damage by looking for their small, rounded droppings around the scene of the crime.
DON’T SHOOT!
If you’re already a hunter or have a gun in the house, it may occur to you to try to eliminate your rabbit infestation with fire power. I would strongly discourage that approach.
For one thing, if you live within city limits, in most places there are restrictions on shooting a firearm. Also, you run the risk of hurting other wildlife or scaring the neighbors.
In more rural areas, there are also complications with disposing of the carcass, and no guarantee that you’ll hit your mark.
And on a practical note, unless you plan to spend a lot of time waiting for your prey to appear, you probably won’t be able to keep up with the burgeoning rabbit population once they go after your garden.
According to experts at the Penn State Extension Service, mature cottontail does can have as many as 40 offspring in just one season. And they start being able to reproduce when they’re one year old.
Since the numbers are against your potential for success in eliminating these garden pests by shooting them one by one, I’d encourage you to focus on the following prevention methods, which will work for any rabbits that might be trying to establish your garden as their family buffet.
FENCE THEM OUT
If the raised bed route isn’t viable, or would only work in part of your growing spaces, consider some fencing, too.
Since most rabbits can’t hop more than two feet off the ground, fencing only needs to be about 26 inches tall.
That’s a relief for flower gardeners, because it’s easier to find an attractive or elegant fence option when it’s only a couple feet tall.
You do need to make sure the openings in the mesh or fence rails are no wider than a couple of inches, though.
Rabbits can squeeze through anything more wide, although they won’t do that if they can find what they like to eat handily outside this barrier.
Also dig a furrow and place the fence so it plunges at least 10 inches below the soil. Cottontails aren’t powerful diggers, but they can uproot a bit of earth to get under a fence if you let them.
Keep in mind, flowering plants and seedlings are particularly appealing when they’re young and tender.
So if you’re not willing to mess with a fence, try to at least put some netting over the plants you buy when you first bring them home from the nursery and put them in the ground. That’s when they’re most susceptible.
