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[Christian]

Hello All!

 

After several weeks carefully sowing, potting on and nurturing my garden, I have discovered rabbits visiting. They have eaten nearly everything, including all my bean plants, onions, radishes, carrots, lupins, stock, lillies, jasmin, clematis, roses, euphorbias, peas, kale and spinach. There seems to be very little they won't eat.

 

I am in the process of fencing off the raised beds with chicken wire around the outside of each bed, but don't really want to do that to the front garden.

 

I have read that rabbits hate the smell of onions - my rabbits eat them - and they dislike foxgloves - true, they haven't touched them, but does anyone know of a foolproof way to get rid of them without resorting to a gun??

 

Moth balls are recommended but not near food crops.

 

I am going to try and make some round individual wire cloches from chicken wire to help, but really need advice.

 

I have worked so hard on the garden and it is now getting me down.

[chickencam]

Poor you When I was a child my parents gave up growing roses in their front garden because they always got eaten by rabbits. Apart from fencing I don't know of any other way.

 

We are amazed that we don't get problems with our allotment beacuse there are loads of rabbits in the fields around it, we just have to net against pigeon damage and there are moles digging everything up. there is always something.

[chickenanne]

They're so annoying, aren't they...? we're lucky (now) but have been plagued in the past. Like you, in the back we use chicken wire around raised beds; IMO the only real option for the front is replace whatever plants they eat with something rabbit-resistant; that way you'll end up with onyl rabbit-proof specimens. Not ideal, but unless you chicken-wire the whole front garden you've no real option.

If you go to the RHS website they have a plant-choosing tool, which will bring up lists of suitable ones.

[Christian]

Thanks for that, will have a look later.

 

Spent yesterday, chicken wiring the veggie garden, so that should be safe for now, as long as I remember to shut the gate