3 garden related things I learned this week...

[Michael Lusk]

So far, I've learned three things this week.

1) Rabbits can somehow manage to squeeze through extremely narrow spaces.
2) Rabbits like both Zinnia AND young bean plants.
3) You shouldn't refer to rabbits as predators.

I live in a city and have a very small garden bed along a privacy fence which is enclosed with plastic fencing; unfortunately there's a small gap between the two. Last night I found all of my bean plants and zinnia had been consumed down to little stubs poking up from the ground.

I told my wife about the situation and she asked "how do you know it was rabbits" to which I replied "either rabbits or some other predator" which prompted her to ask if I thought a mountain lion had eaten my plants and then more jokes ensued...the material was just too easy for my family to work with.

 

[Nyboy]

Sorry my city garden has slugs as predators. I do have a rabbit but he is in a hutch ( there manure makes the best fertilizer)

 

[Ridgerunner]

That is rotten news. I once shot 16 rabbits in my garden before I finally got the last one that was eating the beans as they sprouted. It wasn't unusual to get two or three rabbits a day, usually after supper. I don't believe all 16 were eating the beans but some were. I would not have teased you about calling them predators, somehow pests isn't strong enough.

 

[Collector]

They definitely are garden predators, and are preying on your beans. Maybe you need to put another layer of fence up, or overlay with hardware clothe.

 

[Nyboy]

Be careful city gardens have many eyes. Buy or rent a havahart trap.

 

[thistlebloom]

Sorry about the setback, that's frustrating. Will you have time to start again? Deer are my worst "predators" and I am way too familiar with that sinking feeling and impotent rage when I find they have ruined a planting in spite of my efforts. That's at work, here at home we have deer but they are much more polite because they are likely to not get a second chance...

My go to answer is hot wire, haha. It's pretty effective and foolproof, and you don't have to get rid of the evidence.

 

[Michael Lusk]

@thistlebloom: These were some of my 'network beans' so I only had about 10 seeds to start with so unfortunately I can't replant this particular one - that's the most disappointing part as I was growing them to help keep the variety going.

In any case, I'm going to try hardware cloth at the point where my fencing meets so hopefully that'll button it up so I get something else in the ground.

Thanks for the feedback, glad to know we're not alone with these frustrations!

 

[Collector]

You are not alone when it comes to gardening frustrations, we have all had our rants and raves here. You are definitely in the right place...fricken rabbits!

 

[digitS']

I have some trouble with the Mountain Cottontail, at times. Their population varies and the neighbors tolerate them, probably completely.

Something I have seen is mature or nearly mature rabbits can pass through a chain link fence. Not just under or around but through, slowly.

I once found bean seedlings eaten and, armed only with a sprayer, sprayed the remaining plants. Something organic, as I recall. The bunnies came back and ate those plants that night.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

we'll see how the 2x6x72 inch mesh works out...

i know it won't stop the small rabbits from getting in, but those can be dealt with, what i hope it does for the adult rabbits is keep them out so they can't drop litters in the gardens. it should also cut down on other critter traffic (mainly aimed at deer exclusion, but it won't be 100% effective for that until i can enclose the entire area).