How to Rabbit-Proof A Garden

How to Rabbit-Proof A Garden

Rabbit-proofing your garden is key if you want your garden to be successful. Rabbits have a voracious appetite and can quickly destroy all your hard work. Fencing alone is usually not enough for keeping rabbits out of your garden. Your best bet is using a combination of exclusion methods and repellents by installing a rabbit-proof fence while also using effective rabbit repellents. If you want to know how to keep rabbits out of the garden using effective rabbit-proofing methods, including using rabbit deterrents, read on.

How to Install a Rabbit-Proof Fence

Step 1: Hammer stakes 12 inches into the ground, one at each corner of the area you want to protect.

Step 2: For effective rabbit-proofing, Hammer posts in every six feet between these stakes, with even spacing between.

Step 3: Take chicken wire, enough to cover the distance between the first two corner stakes, and bend the bottom at a 90-degree angle, creating a 12-inch lip. This 12-inch flap will cover the ground on the outside of your fence, ensuring the rabbits can’t tunnel under it.

Step 4: Secure the portion of the fence with zip ties to the corner post, ensuring the flap is on the outside.

Step 5: Do the same for the other sides of the fence.

Step 6: Using zip ties, secure the chicken wire to the posts. Stretch the wire tight against the post and use the zip ties on the top, middle and bottom of the fence to attach it tightly to the post.

Step 7: Using landscape garden staples, secure the flap to the ground. Staple right at the 90-degree angle and also at the outside edge of the lip. Do this every two feet.

Step 8: Remove any excess wire using wire cutters. For best rabbit-proofing results, check for any gaps in the fencing.

Step 9: Layer 2-3 inches of mulch over the outside flap to hide it.

Rabbit-Proof Gardens with Repellents

You’ll also need to know how to repel rabbits from the garden. A rabbit-proof fence doesn’t repel them; it just makes it more difficult to gain access. There are two main tactics you can use to repel rabbits from your garden. Use both for even better protection from rabbit damage.

  • Liquid or Granular Animal Repellent: The best rabbit deterrent for gardens contains putrescent egg. While odorless to humans once dry, it smells like rotting flesh to the rabbit. They associate the smell with a predator being nearby and instinctively flee the area.
  • Motion Detector Sprinkler: Set one of these up, and when a rabbit gets near, the unit senses its movement and it lets out a burst of water combined with a tic-tic-tic noise. Rabbits are startled, run in the other direction, and your garden is better protected. The bottom line is you’ll have better luck keeping rabbits out of the garden if you use rabbit deterrents in combination with a rabbit-proof fence.
