Keep Bunnies Off Your Lawn: Simple and Effective Tips

Don’t let a rabbit’s adorable, soft appearance deceive you. Despite being easily frightened creatures that typically serve as prey, rabbits are voracious eaters capable of wreaking havoc on lawns and gardens swiftly. I own a pet rabbit whom I adore, yet that doesn’t imply I wish for more. In my outdoor space or green area.

Fortunately, numerous kind suggestions and strategies are available that Make your yard less appealing To deter rabbits (or prevent them from entering at all), we have invited Osmar Castillero from Blades Landscaping and Amy Fedele from Pretty Purple Door to share their top-secret techniques for keeping these creatures away from your garden.

What Do Rabbits Eat?

"Bunnies usually prefer tender young plants and veggies, along with vegetation having softer leaves," according to Fedele. In your garden, this indicates lettuces, carrots, leafy greens In lawns, they feed on grass, clover, and dandelions, says Castillero. These creatures do not limit themselves to hardy plants; they will also gnaw on twigs and bark from various trees such as apple, birch, and poplar.

A rabbit's very active digestive system demands a nearly continuous intake of food. My little bunny tips the scales at under five pounds and consumes copious amounts of hay and vegetables each day. In the case of wild rabbits, lawns or gardens provide ideal locations for readily meeting their dietary requirements.

Primary Issues Induced by Rabbits

Hares and cottontails might ruin your agricultural yields and floral beds as they consume the greenery. Additionally, these creatures could peel away the tree and bush bark, leading to harm of your flora. The presence of rabbits around your property may furthermore lure other wildlife and carnivores into the area.

Ways to Keep Rabbits Out of Your Yard

Implement these preventive strategies to make your yard less appealing to rabbits.

Regular yard maintenance

Keep weeds Maintain control of your area with neatly gathered leaves to offer fewer hiding spots and sustenance for rabbits. Trim back vegetation regularly to prevent providing additional food sources they might be attracted to.

Mow your grass often

Rabbits feel more secure in taller grass, hence maintaining a shorter lawn is advisable. "Avoid letting your grass grow beyond five or six inches," advises Castillero. "It becomes harder to mow at this length, plus it provides an ideal hiding and digging spot for rabbits."

Methods to Prevent Rabbits from Invading Your Yard

From obstacles to offensive smells, these tactics prevent rabbits from entering your space.

Plant onions or garlic

Here’s some encouraging information for those considering cultivating onions or garlic for their home garden: these crops serve as an excellent defense against rabbits in your outdoor space. Consider sowing them around the edges 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 the critters effectively.

Add some dried sulfur, crushed red pepper, or hair

Rabbits are equally deterred by sulfur and red pepper. Castillero has had some luck eliminating rabbits by scattering bits of dried red pepper around lawns or bushes.

You might also think about adding some human hair into the mix. The hair resembles grass, leading rabbits to believe they're eating poor-quality grass, which deters them. Realizing this "grass" isn’t worth their time, they cease visiting the area.

Build a fence

"The top choice would be to set up a fence, particularly surrounding your vegetable patch," according to Fedele. However, not just any ordinary fence will suffice for this task.

A rabbit-proof fence It should be constructed from metal wire mesh since rabbits will easily gnaw through vinyl or plastic materials. The gaps in the mesh must not exceed one inch; thus, a suitable option would be hardware cloth, which features 1/2-inch openings. As Fedele points out, "Should the holes be larger, the bunnies could squeeze through."

To stop rabbits from burrowing under the fence (as they inevitably will), ensure the fence is buried at least 12 inches deep into the ground.

Spray rabbit repellent

Applying a rabbit deterrent regularly may prevent these animals from coming into your yard. Predator urine-based repellents have worked well for me. As Fedele points out, "When bunnies detect their natural predators' scent, they tend to avoid the region." Alternative repellent options include sprays with potent odors such as garlic.

Every repellant product needs to be reapplied approximately every month or following heavy rainfall.

Grow plants bunnies hate

Strong-smelling plants such as lavender, peppermint, and marigolds are among those that rabbits tend to steer clear of. Planting these extensively throughout your yard or lining them around the edges might deter rabbits from entering your property.

FAQ

During what time of day are rabbits typically most lively?

Fedele mentions that rabbits are typically most energetic during early morning and late evening because these times align with their innate feeding habits. These creatures remain active all year round since they do not experience hibernation.

What signs indicate that rabbits are invading your garden?

A frequent indicator 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 (also known as excavated piles of soil) not only on the lawn but also around fences or at the edges of gardens. The presence of nesting materials such as leaves and grass in your garden may signal rabbit activity.

What is the optimal season for implementing measures to prevent rabbits?

Although preventive measures can be put in place at any point during the year, specialists typically suggest implementing them in late winter when rabbits are most hungry. This period precedes their breeding season, which occurs in spring.

About the Experts

Osmar Castillero owns Blades Landscaping Services, a lawn care and maintenance business based in Lowell, Massachusetts. With more than ten years of expertise in the field, he brings considerable knowledge to his work.

Amy Fedele is an authority on home gardening and the creator of Pretty Purple Door She provides online landscape design courses catering toDIY enthusiasts. With a diploma in Garden Design and Maintenance, she has assisted homeowners with their landscaping projects since 2014.