Every year there is a new "home remedy" to spray or sprinkle on the garden, to discourage the rabbits. Every year the rabbits still get their share.

I am not going to say that I won't keep trying all the special concoctions, but for now, I have a solution that is working. For a month now, a 20' X 60' section of my four acres, has been BUNNY FREE!!!

I have always found a chicken wire fence works, up to a point. My Rambo Rabbits usually find a weak spot and tunnel under it. You should see some of the holes they make. I even sat and watched one the other morning, stick its paws in the chicken wire, and start to climb up it. Lucky for me, the top edge was a little loose... he lost his balance and fell back to the ground. I felt like going out and giving him a carrot for his efforts.

Now I think I have found a design for a chicken wire fence that works. If you watch rabbits, they always start digging right up next to a fence line. Attach a 6" wide shelf of chicken wire all along the bottom of your fence, and bury it about 2" deep. Be sure this is placed on the side away from your garden. The rabbits will be immediately stopped by this underground shelf, and they never think to try their digging further away from the fence. If you want to make your fence completely of chicken wire, use 38" wide wire, placing 6" of it underground. (Again, be sure to face this lip away from the garden). Don't stretch it too tight at the top because leaving it wobbly at the top will make any climbing rabbits fall back down.

One other thing I have done, is to move my bird feeders away from the main garden. Rabbits love bird food. I have erected the flower stocks from two dead century plants (Agave americana) and hung the feeders on them. On the lowest branch, I have a large feeder about 3" from the ground. I fill it with chicken scratch, which is less expensive than wild bird feed. I have found both the rabbits and the quail love it.

This idea for the fence came from a 1947 issue of Popular Science.