How are they possibly getting in around your fence? Find and fix the access. Otherwise I'd suspect it isn't them but is slugs instead.

Dave

I'm sorry, that's so frustrating! Have you seen the actual culprits? As in "caught in the act"? Because at my old house I put up a fence because of rabbits, but then they still seemed to be getting in and then I saw a baby rabbit squeeze THROUGH the fence. Turned out I had bought a cheaper version of chicken wire that had larger 1.5" holes rather than "real" chicken wire (with 1" holes). I ended up using bird netting over my chicken wire and that worked well enough for a while. If I had needed a more permanent solution I would have used hardware cloth.

Also, does your fence have a floppy top? I haven't had to try that one yet, but the idea is that when the groundhog climbs up your fence (he can), the loose floppy top just bends over back to the ground. Anyway, good luck!

I feel your pain! The repellants have never worked for me neither. Just not long ago, I also digged up 20 feet of peas after rabbit damage in order to make room for Beans.

Similar to sunnibel's experience, I personally saw baby rabbits squeezing through 1" opening that sits on the ground level. However, taz6122 mentioned "rabbit wire" or some others mentioned "rabbit fence" have worked for them. These have smaller openings at the bottom, and sparse openings at the top. Bright green deer nets on my raised beds (with 1-2ft raise) works for the uninvited bunnies here. If you already have the chickenwire in place, have you tried to weave through the lower part with some bright twines? The twines need to sit low enough for those baby rabbits. Not sure about groundhogs because we don't have those in this area. The last but most likely causes are what Dave pointed out, holes in the fence.

Once you can keep the rabbits at bay, some of your young plants like Peas will grow back, not sure if they're be fast enough for you though.

A rat trap with apple and peanut butter. It will take care of the small ones

Small rodents or birds maybe?

I think someone mentioned using flour or another white powder to get footprints, on one of the other threads

When asking for help, it is very important to provide location information. Some possibilities can be ruled out from your garden location. For example, if you were a neighbor of mine (KS), I would not suggest it could be slugs or snails. But, I have never seen a groundhog outside a zoo in my life. Rabbits, I have way too much experience with.

I have had to dispatch with a pellet gun about a half dozen every year, a task I do not enjoy. This year, while tilling, I ran over a nest of baby rabbits. Yuck, rather gruesome.

So, now I am trying something new. I recently received a mail-ordered "sonic pest repellent". So far, I think it is working rather well. I have only had it for about three weeks. I seem to have fewer birds visit than before installation and they do not stay as long as before, and have seen no rabbits, or signs of rabbits in my garden. You can do a search on bird-x. If you decide to try it, shop well. Lots of price variation out there. Target price $40.

If I left off the overhead screen/hardware cloth/chickenwire - I would suspect birds - especially for early peas/bean sprouts, with bites along the edges of tender new growth.

Once the plants have toughened a bit, the screens/wire can be removed (for birds - that is), but rabbits would need further attention.

It is important, also - to put hardware cloth on the bottom of planting boxes - to thwart the voles/groundhogs, etc. It prevents a lot of heartache later.

In summer, I give birds a water source to discourage their pecking the new growth.

Had rabbits coming through my fence & birds pecking my bean sprouts.

I took 1/2" hardware cloth and cut it into about 20 6"by12" pieces using sheet metal snips.

Each piece I formed into a cylinder 6" high with open top and bottom. Placed the cylinders over the bean sprouts (and squash, cucumber sprouts).

Since the top of the cylinder has spikes where it was cut, the rabbits do not get into them. Rabbits don't like anything sharp.

Also since the diameter of the cylinder is only about 4" (diameter = 12" divided by 3.14) the birds cannot fly into them.

I'll have to figure out how to keep the rabbits out though before the plants outgrow the protective mesh cylinders.

emgardener, that's a great idea. I will have to try that too!

The rabbits here can stand up to about 1 feet tall while dinning, usually they don't bother with anything taller (plenty other choices around). I wonder if I try your idea and raise it to 1" tall, will those wire be able to work for larger plants? Our local bunnies here do not favor squash and cucumber, bless their hearts.