It’s already June and HOT here in the Northeast. The lazy days of summer seem to be here a little too early. Thankfully the weather will cool off soon, and be more seasonal. The heat has kept many people indoors, but if you look outside your window, all the wildlife is busy, busy, busy, looking for food for themselves and their young.
Is one of your garden visitors a cute little cottontail rabbit? Is that cute little cottontail eating your newly planted vegetable garden for the nice tender green shoots? Is it making your crazy? Annoyed? Frustrated? Are you feeling like Mr. McGregor from Beatrix Potter’s book? Perhaps it’s time to remember all those animated, animal friendly movies we watched and books we read as children, and try to coexist with our wildlife. There are some things that you can do to assist you with this endeavor.
First a little history about our cuddly furry friends: wild cottontail rabbits live an average of 2 years, weigh in at approximately 2-3 lbs and are less than 12 inches long. Early Spring is when they start to reproduce. They can have 3-4 litters per year, with 4-6 young per litter. Of course not all the young survive due to factors such as illness, climate and predators. They are herbivores, whose diet consists of 90% grass. Cottontail rabbits are found all over the USA as well as Canada and Central America.
Deterring those little bunnies is not as hard as you may think. Rabbits are afraid of humans, and they are considered “prey” by many other species. Perhaps you’d like to try one or more of the following non-lethal ways to deter them from your garden:
- Wormwood (a perennial): planted near your garden will keep rabbits away.
- Galvanized chicken wire around your garden, 3 feet high, and either 1 foot into the ground or create an L-shape just under the ground coming out 6 inches. This will keep them from digging under the fence.
- Sprinkle a mixture of ground black pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper and some bone meal around plants.
- Sprinkle wood ashes around plants – this needs to be repeated more often.
- Try putting a rubber snake near your garden. Rabbits are afraid of snakes.
- Hang aluminum strips tied to wooden stakes that are 3 feet high. The movement will scare them.
- Plant plants that they don’t like: squash, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, peppers and potatoes.
- If you’re starting your garden from seed, put a “cloche” made from a 2 liter soda bottle (bottom cut off, bottle cap off) over seedlings to protect them. Once plant grows, cut top of bottle 4 inches from the tapered neck, and put the “middle” section of the bottle around the base of the plant to protect it.
