They've never bothered my vinca or melampodium. Nor profusion zinnias. Check out some lists on the internet, but keep in mind that if the deer are really hungry, they'll eat anything. I have had good luck with the electric deer fence (battery powered stakes).

Yes, rabbits eat peas...but i've had rabbits breeding in the garden that didn't bother them...instead, the slugs ate 'em. I know because I was out there with a flashlight and a bottle of ammonia water curdling the little slimeballs. The little fuzzbunnies were such good hiders, i'd be picking beans or weeding and almost touch one before i saw those big brown eyes. Where I live now, they've eaten pea sprouts (and green bean sprouts) at times, sometimes they left them for the deer. This year, I have three dogs, which should put a stop to resident rabbits and derelict deer...so i suppose the slugs are queing up already, just waiting for sprouts...sigh.

I used the polymer to plant the Newhall garden in 1989. From personal experience, do not mix up a largish batch of it without wearing a face mask. The dust will rehydrate inside your body and won't come out. I figured if I hydrated it with liquid fertilizer, it would provide some feeding for some time. Then, I got the "bright idea" of hydrating it with fish emulsion. Stupidly, I admit it, I hydrated a forty-four gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck trash can full of polymer/fish emulsion. Except, how much can you actually USE in one day? Picture it...summer, mid California desert, high nineties to low triple digits, no shelter, only a large trash can with a lid in that heat.... The next day off when I hit the garden, there MUST have been something dead! It was the trash can. I dug an enormous hole to fit the whole, slimy, "dead" mess. It took quite a bit to cover it and I figured something was sure to dig it up, but nothing did. Several years later, we had a strong El Nino. The ground broke open and black 'slime' oozed from the cracks. I figured it had to be something pretty terrible as this was "virgin" ground where no homes had ever stood and no crops ever planted. Polymer... It was mixed, wet, into the soil in 1989. It prevented all gopher activity in the areas in which it was used all the way though 2007 when the garden had to be dismantled. Digging up well established plants, I found the polymer still hydrated with roots grown through it. Fortunately, there was NO evidence of the "dead" fish emulsion. A friend told me he successfully used the polymer against the gophers. His theory was they would eat the polymer along with the roots and it would absorb the fluids in their intestines. You can extrapolate what probably happened internally. All I can swear by is, gophers were frequent issues in all the beds of that garden EXCEPT those planted with the soil polymer. I would use it again, IF I could buy it wholesale as I could in 1989. Then, I was able to buy a whole pound of the stuff for $15. A pound goes a LONG way! Kim

Hello, everyone! I am a new member, and glad to be here. This is a long post, but it's worth reading, because it is a simple, inexpensive and permanent solution to the problem of rabbits eating your flowers and vegetables. I do cannot understand why so many people pass up this infallible solution for keeping rabbits and other small critters (and maybe deer, as well) from eating their flowers and vegetables. IT WORKS, PERIOD. Put in a blender the following, none of which need to be peeled or otherwise fooled with, except for the onion, which should be cut in quarters, to facilitate blending: 2 dozen habanero peppers 1 whole head garlic 1 medium red onion 1 tablespoon peppermint oil Add enough water so that it comes to about 4 inches above ingredients.(This really means to add enough water that ingredients will get as liquefied as possible.) Blend on highest speed until it appears to you that all ingredients are thoroughly liquefied. Add enough additional water to come up to the 1 quart mark on blender. Blend again at high speed for 30 seconds or so. Strain the mixture through a nylon stocking, or better yet, a nut milk bag, if you have one. It might even be worth your while to buy a nut bag expressly for the purpose of making this recipe. (Just do a search under "Not bag" or "nut milk bag.) But a nylon stocking will work. Strain mixture over a bowl through stocking (or nut bag) till no more liquid runs through. Then squeeze as much more liquid as possible out of what is still in the stocking. WASH YOUR HANDS AND UNDER YOUR NAILS VERY WELL WITH LOTS OF SOAP AND WARM WATER AFTER HANDLING THE MIXTURE. Using a funnel, pour the strained liquid into a 1 quart spray/stream bottle. Now you are ready to spray or squirt the mixture on your plants. Rabbits will NOT eat plants on which you spray this stuff. You don't need to over spray, but don't be stingy, either. Make sure whatever you spray gets a decent dousing. It won't take long before the critters keep away just because of the smell HOWEVER, you MUST be vigilant about using this stuff. After it rains, especially after a hard rain, spray your plants again. Whether it rains or not, spray every 3 weeks. If the smell wears off sufficiently, the rabbits will be back. Also, there will be young, "unschooled" rabbits coming along throughout the season, That's it. No rabbit fences, no dogs, cats, traps, etc. The main reason this mixture works is because rabbits will not take more than a nibble of a leaf with this stuff on it before they try something else. By the way, rabbits have a "favorites" list." So if you spray this mixture on whatever is their favorite item in your garden, they will begin eating whatever is second, then third, fourth, etc. on their list. So that means you need to spray most things in your garden, except for plants you know they won't eat, like tomatoes, for instance. I read the post about rabbits eating someone's tomatoes, and I would not believe it unless I actually saw it. The reason is that tomatoes, potatoes and other nightshade family plants have a horrible tasting poison in their leaves and stems. Rabbits simply cannot to tolerate it. Try a little nibble on a leaf yourself, and you'll see... Well, that's it: Capsaicin is the end of the line for rabbit problems, as well as other small critter problems. I think this stuff also works for deer, but am not sure. It may be that a mixture for deer needs to also have "putrefied egg solids" in it. THAT is something I would buy, not make!