Don’t be fooled by a rabbit’s cute, fluffy exterior. While they may be skittish prey animals, bunnies are eating machines that can lay waste to a lawn or garden in short order. I have a pet bunny that I love, but that doesn’t mean I want any
in my yard or garden.
Thankfully, there are many humane tips and tricks that
make your yard less desirable
to bunnies (or keep them out altogether). Here to divulge their best-kept methods for keeping bunnies out of your yard are Osmar Castillero from Blades Landscaping and Amy Fedele from Pretty Purple Door.
What Do Rabbits Eat?
“Bunnies tend to favor tender, young plants and vegetables, as well as plants with soft foliage,” Fedele says. In the garden, this means
lettuces, carrots, leafy greens
, fruits and herbs. In lawns, they feast on grass, clover and dandelions, according to Castillero. Hardier plants are not off limits, as rabbits will also chew and eat twigs and bark from trees like apple, birch and poplar trees.
A rabbit’s highly active digestive system requires a near-constant supply of food. My bunny weighs less than five pounds and eats an enormous amount of hay and greens daily. For wild rabbits, a lawn or garden is the perfect spot to easily fulfill their feeding needs.
Primary Issues Induced by Rabbits
Hares and cottontails might ruin your crops and garden beds as they consume the foliage. Additionally, these creatures could remove the protective outer layer of trees and bushes, leading to harm for your flora. The presence of rabbits around your property may draw other wildlife and predatory beasts as well.
Ways to Keep Rabbits Out of Your Yard
Adopt these preventive strategies to make your property less appealing to rabbits.
Regular yard maintenance
Keep
weeds
under control and leaves raked up to provide less cover and food for rabbits. Keep plants trimmed up to avoid excess food that rabbits will gravitate toward.
Mow your grass often
Rabbits feel more secure in taller grass, hence it’s best to maintain a shorter lawn. As Castillero advises, “Aim to avoid letting your grass grow beyond five or six inches.” This isn’t just because it becomes harder to mow; long grass also provides an ideal hiding spot and burrowing ground for rabbits.
Ways to Keep Rabbits Out of Your Yard
From obstacles to offensive smells, these tactics prevent rabbits from entering your space.
Plant onions or garlic
Here’s some encouraging information if you’ve considered cultivating onions or garlic for your culinary needs: these crops serve as an excellent defense against rabbits in your garden. Consider sowing them around the perimeter of your property to create a natural deterrent. Fedele recommends using garlic and onions alongside more susceptible plants as protective companions. Their aroma tends to repel rabbits effectively.
Add some dried sulfur, crushed red pepper, or hair.
Rabbits are also repulsed by sulfur and red pepper. Castillero has found some success getting rid of rabbits by sprinkling a bit of dried red pepper around lawns or shrubs.
You can also consider sprinkling some human hair as well. Hair looks similar to grass, so when rabbits feast on it, they find it to be a terrible-tasting grass. Knowing the “grass” is not what they want, they stop hopping over.
Build a fence
“The best thing you can do is install fencing, especially around your vegetable garden,” Fedele says. But any old fence will not do the trick.
A rabbit-proof
fence
should be made of metal wire mesh, as rabbits will chew right through vinyl or plastic. The openings in the mesh should be 1 inch or less, so a material like hardware cloth (a woven mesh material with 1/2-inch openings) is a good choice. “If the openings are too large, the bunnies can still get through,” Fedele says.
To stop rabbits from burrowing under the fence (as they surely will), ensure that the fencing extends at least 12 inches underground.
Spray rabbit repellent
Applying a rabbit deterrent regularly can prevent these creatures from coming into your yard. Predator urine-based repellents have worked well for me. As Fedele notes, “When bunnies detect the scent of their natural predators, they tend to avoid the region.” Alternative repellent options include sprays infused with potent odors such as garlic.
Any repellent product will need to be reapplied every month or so or after a period of hard rain.
Grow plants bunnies hate
Pungent plants like lavender, peppermint and marigolds are just some of the plants that bunnies will avoid. If there are enough of them in your yard or if you plant them all along the yard’s perimeter, they could prevent rabbits from setting foot in your yard.
FAQ
When are rabbits most active?
Fedele says rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk “because this coincides with their natural feeding patterns.” They do not hibernate, so they are active throughout the year.
How do you know if rabbits are getting into your garden?
A frequent indication is rabbit droppings, appearing as clusters of tiny, spherical pellets. Since rabbits consistently eat and defecate, this can be a readily identifiable sign of their existence.
Fedele notes that chewed plants, particularly soft new growths, can indicate rabbit presence.
Castillero suggests searching for burrows (or excavated piles of soil) on your lawn as well as close to fences or around garden borders. The presence of nesting materials such as leaves and grass in your garden may signal rabbit activity.
What is the optimal season for implementing strategies to prevent rabbits?
Although preventive measures can be put into place at any point during the year, specialists typically suggest targeting late winter when rabbits are most hungry. This period precedes their mating season, which occurs in spring.
About the Experts
Osmar Castillero
He owns Blades Landscaping Services, a lawn care and maintenance business based in Lowell, Massachusetts. With more than a decade of expertise in this field, he brings considerable knowledge to his enterprise.
Amy Fedele
is a home gardening expert and founder of
Pretty Purple Door
, which offers online landscape design courses for DIY landscaping enthusiasts. She holds a diploma in Garden Design and Maintenance, and has been helping homeowners design landscapes since 2014.
