How to keep rabbits out of your garden

Rabbits may look adorable, but they can quickly turn a garden into a wasteland. If you're serious about protecting your garden, it's important to take the necessary precautions to safeguard your plants and flowers. Below are some tips to keep your garden safe from rabbits.

• Although fencing might seem like the most intuitive solution to keep rabbits out, many people don't use the right type of fencing.
• Rabbits are excellent diggers, which means your fencing needs to extend deep enough into the surrounding soil to stop them from burrowing into your garden plot.
• The fence should be buried at least a foot underground and should be at least two feet high.
• White picket fences won't cut it. You need a wire mesh fence that a rabbit can't bite or squeeze through.

• One homemade rabbit repellent solution involves spraying some hot sauce diluted with water onto your plants and flowers.
• Capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot sauce, is extremely harsh to a rabbit. It will avoid any plant sprayed with this solution.
• You can also purchase urine from predators that rabbits fear, such as coyotes or foxes, but the problem with all repellents is that you must reapply them every time it rains.
• This can be a problem in rainy areas of Canada like Vancouver, but in other areas this repellent method works well.

• Purchase traps from local hardware stores that are specifically designed for rabbits, including humane options.
• These traps are usually baited with vegetables and placed in strategic areas of your property.
• If you choose a humane trap, drive the rabbit at least five miles from your property and place it in a wooded area if you can.

Although you should feel free to plant whatever vegetables you want, be aware that there are certain vegetables that rabbits won't normally eat. These vegetables include:

• Corn
• Tomatoes
•  Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Squash

• Your flower garden may be a target for the local rabbit population, as many rabbits are known to eat flower bulbs.
• Thankfully, there are certain flowers that rabbits tend to avoid. Below is a list of some flowers you should consider planting in your garden to keep rabbits at bay:
•  Snapdragons
• Geraniums
• Salvia
• Coleus
•  Begonias
• Alyssum

• You can take several measures to reduce a rabbit's inclination to visit your property in the first place, including routinely mowing your lawn, weeding your garden properly and filling rabbit holes with debris.
• These methods will often get rid of any rabbits that have taken an interest in raiding your property.

Keeping rabbits out of your garden can be a bit of work, but it's worth it. Using these methods, you should be able to protect your plants and flowers and keep rabbits from ruining the time and effort you put into making your garden look great.