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aliciahere_zone3a

Rabbits!

aliciahere_zone3a
12 years ago

A lot of my veggie garden will be going between existing plants in my front yard. I am concerned about rabbits as we have a couple of resident ones that often visit the yard. I have heard that planting a row of dusty miller and/or marigolds may deter them. Any ideas on this? I have not seen them eating any of the existing plants. This year I'm not that ambitious to put up a small fence (plus it would detract from the existing plants - mainly peonys). Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanx,

Comments (9)

  • northspruce
    12 years ago

    I have found rabbits only eat my garden in the spring when stuff is tender. Bloodmeal or blood-and-bonemeal sprinkled fairly thickly around vulnerable plants will deter them. It only needs to be applied while the plants are small and tender. It's a quality organic fertilizer also. This is my experience anyway.

  • don555
    12 years ago

    In spring and summer in the city, rabbits won't likely be a problem, they will have plenty of other food around. I do know some people who claim that rabbits have eaten their ornamental grasses, but I've grown a big backyard garden in Edmonton for 20 years, and rabbits can easily get into the yard, but they have never been a problem in summer (though sometimes they do some nibbling of tree shoots in winter).

  • Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
    12 years ago

    Welcome to the forum, Aliciahere. Gardening in Edmonton certainly has it's challenges but the biggest ones are usually the weather patterns. Today is a classic example! I have rabbits in my yard all year round and feed them in the winter months. My veggie garden is in the back yard and surrounded by the dog fence so I have not had any problems with the bunnies. Not sure what they might do to veggies in the front yard tho. I feed them out front and they will occassionally taste a daylilly but generally they leave my flowers alone. Like Don said, they usually have lots to eat and I guess it depends on how brave the bunnies are and how many are hanging out. :) Sometimes even a little wire dollar store type fence around the veggies will deter them.

    Ginny

  • aliciahere_zone3a
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanx for all the tips, I will certainly have to get some bonemeal (thanx northspruce). It's true that I haven't seen them eating my existing plants, but I was thinking that maybe with the new veggie sprouts they may go after them. If not, I May need to break down and put up some fencing at least while they are small. Thanx everybody!

  • northspruce
    12 years ago

    The only plant I can think of that I've had serious rabbit problems with is newly-sprouted Asiatic lilies. They eat the whole growing shoot and that's it for the lily that year. I plant veggies in raised beds covered with chicken wire (neighbour cat issue) so the bunnies don't go there. I'm not sure if just bonemeal will work, get either bloodmeal or bone-and-blood. Good luck!

  • Collin001
    12 years ago

    There is a rabbit who likes sleeping under the lilac bushes. It has severely pruned back all the new growth on our Burning Bush and has just about destroyed the Purple Sandcherry. I thought those types bushes were not attractive to rabbits and hence why I did not protect them. I guess I was mistaken. I'm curious if either will come back in the spring.

  • northspruce
    12 years ago

    I can assure you that the purple leaf sand cherry will return from the roots Collin, and the burning bush (if it's Euonymus alatus) will return from a reasonably mature stem, as long as they were established. Both shrubs die back hard almost every winter in my yard and grow back in spring. I actually got rid of my PLSC even though the leaves were pretty, because I was sick of pruning the dead stems and it never getting big.

  • Collin001
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the advice northspruce. I may consider the blood meal as an option. Both shrubs were planted last summer so they were not well established. Of the two I'd say there is more left of the burning bush. I save all my tags on plants and the tag says dwarf form of E. Alatus. I think once these shrubs get larger they will be more resistant to rabbits.

    The update is I found there are now two rabbits and one is either horrendously fat or pregnant. They make their rounds somewhere between 11pm and 2am. I noticed them on a bathroom break. I chased them away but they are semi tame. They'll only go about 100ft and then they tease me. Since I have better things to do then chase rabbits in the dead of night in my house coat I let them go.

  • deanna_r
    11 years ago

    I live near a ravine in Calgary where we have a lot of wild hares. One morning I came out to find six lounging in the front yard. They are very fond of my Asiatic lilies when the plants are new and tender, and used to give them the neatest flat top cuts until I started poking hair that I saved from brushing my dog among the leaves. (If you don't have a dog, I'm sure that any groomer would be happy to give you some.) Since doing that, I haven't had a nibble.

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