Wabbits in the garden are a real pain. Remember one neighbour about 30 years ago spending (today's equivalent of) a few hundred pounds making a pretty little rockery feature in her front garden planted up with alpines, heathers and bulbs.
Finished the job late pm. Went to bed that night. Woke up the next morning to find all the plants eaten. Very disheartening. They did a good job of demolishing new plantings in my garden as well but at least I was then able to fence it off from the rabbit-infested field next door.
Sorry Kelly, but you need to consider fencing off your whole garden (or a sizeable portion of it) if you want to protect plants.
If you want some detailed advice about the best way to do it come back to us. As Fairy and Hosta have pointed out you need an underground horizontal anti-scraping barrier as well as a vertical one.
Enjoy your kip Hosta😴
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
If it's not practical to make a barrier around the whole garden (whether for practical or financial reasons) you can still consider rabbit-proofing part of it and trying more rabbit-proof plants in the rest of the garden.
Depends how big the garden is, where the rabbits are coming from, how large the rabbit population is etc etc
If you'd like some help it would be useful to have a general idea of the size of the garden / details of any fences / walls etc you already have - maybe a picture or two of the area(s) you'd like to isolate. It is quite possible to 'hide' rabbit barriers with hedge planting and fences and, too an extent, doing a larger area is easier than trying to deal with individual borders where you will always see any attempts to keep the rabbits out.
The actual rabbit barrier fencing isn't particularly expensive but it is a bit of a slog digging out the trenches to put it in.
If you decide to put bulbs in pots you can put a layer of chicken wire about an inch below the top of the compost which will be both invisible and stop both squirrels and rabbits digging them out.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Its a pretty large garden adjacent to an open field that is riddled with hares and rabbit. There are sheep and cattle in these fields dependent upon the time of year, but that doesn't deter the rabbit population unfortunately!
The entire garden is fenced (about 100-150m in length) albeit with a basic pillar and post style so certainly no rabbit protection there. It would be difficult to rabbit proof this fence because the gates are at times opened to bring tractors in.
The borders is enclosed within a courtyard with one open side where the little monkeys can easily get in. A fence on this open side with a trench built seems to be the only solutions from what I can gather, which will obviously not be cheap and is somewhat a shame from an aesthetic point of view.
You could try a really deep, steep (and smooth) sided ha-ha. Not a cheap option unless you have a digger in the garage and some good at walling in your house.
A fence across the courtyard opening sounds best - you can 'lose' it (visually) in a formal clipped hedge, or a line of lovely shrubs, or a picket fence. It doesn't have to be very high if it's just for rabbits - about 2 feet seems to work. They exploit every weakness, even when it's quite momentary - a gate left open for a few minutes at the wrong time of day. They actually eat anything, so there are no 'rabbit-proof' plants, but they do have things they prefer and things they only eat when there's not much else, or that they only eat once. They aren't keen on strong scents and hairy leaves; their very favourite is lovely short, mown grass. Consider not having a lawn inside the courtyard, and look at herbs as fillers for your borders if you want to make things less appetising. But these won't keep them out/off.
There's really no option but a fence, I'm afraid, and vigilance with shutting gates.
Tulips in pots can look really good
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
You could use something like steel mesh (for concrete reinforcement), painted black, and covered with chicken wire and sunk into the ground about 18 inches with say, 2ft 6 inches above ground. That would be almost an 'invisible' fence. You would need some fence posts but these could be skinny steel ones or wooden ones. And a fairly cheap solution.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Rabbits aren't especially keen on carrots. That is a rumour started by the chap who drew Bugs Bunny because he wanted him to look like Clark Gable, leaning on a fence. Clark Gable had a cigarette in his hand, and a carrot was the best substitute he could think of. They are generally more interested in greens. They will eat carrots, especially Young sweet ones that aren't big enough yet to harvest
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
They'll just eat them...and then eat everything else
There's no 'easy' answer with keeping rabbits out unfortunately. I love Bugs Bunny @raisingirl. Possibly my all time favourite cartoon. Perhaps the OP needs Elmer Fudd
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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Finished the job late pm. Went to bed that night. Woke up the next morning to find all the plants eaten. Very disheartening. They did a good job of demolishing new plantings in my garden as well but at least I was then able to fence it off from the rabbit-infested field next door.
Sorry Kelly, but you need to consider fencing off your whole garden (or a sizeable portion of it) if you want to protect plants.
If you want some detailed advice about the best way to do it come back to us. As Fairy and Hosta have pointed out you need an underground horizontal anti-scraping barrier as well as a vertical one.
Enjoy your kip Hosta😴
Depends how big the garden is, where the rabbits are coming from, how large the rabbit population is etc etc
If you'd like some help it would be useful to have a general idea of the size of the garden / details of any fences / walls etc you already have - maybe a picture or two of the area(s) you'd like to isolate. It is quite possible to 'hide' rabbit barriers with hedge planting and fences and, too an extent, doing a larger area is easier than trying to deal with individual borders where you will always see any attempts to keep the rabbits out.
The actual rabbit barrier fencing isn't particularly expensive but it is a bit of a slog digging out the trenches to put it in.
If you decide to put bulbs in pots you can put a layer of chicken wire about an inch below the top of the compost which will be both invisible and stop both squirrels and rabbits digging them out.
The entire garden is fenced (about 100-150m in length) albeit with a basic pillar and post style so certainly no rabbit protection there. It would be difficult to rabbit proof this fence because the gates are at times opened to bring tractors in.
The borders is enclosed within a courtyard with one open side where the little monkeys can easily get in. A fence on this open side with a trench built seems to be the only solutions from what I can gather, which will obviously not be cheap and is somewhat a shame from an aesthetic point of view.
Any other ideas pop into your minds?
A fence across the courtyard opening sounds best - you can 'lose' it (visually) in a formal clipped hedge, or a line of lovely shrubs, or a picket fence. It doesn't have to be very high if it's just for rabbits - about 2 feet seems to work.
They exploit every weakness, even when it's quite momentary - a gate left open for a few minutes at the wrong time of day.
They actually eat anything, so there are no 'rabbit-proof' plants, but they do have things they prefer and things they only eat when there's not much else, or that they only eat once. They aren't keen on strong scents and hairy leaves; their very favourite is lovely short, mown grass. Consider not having a lawn inside the courtyard, and look at herbs as fillers for your borders if you want to make things less appetising. But these won't keep them out/off.
There's really no option but a fence, I'm afraid, and vigilance with shutting gates.
Tulips in pots can look really good
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
There's no 'easy' answer with keeping rabbits out unfortunately.
I love Bugs Bunny @raisingirl. Possibly my all time favourite cartoon. Perhaps the OP needs Elmer Fudd
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...