I give up on fencing since the baby bunnies crawl under the fence. A lazy way to deter rabbits is to put Irish Spring soap (has a minty element which deer hates). Back in 2012 I got 12 bands (tiny own-roots) from Burlington Roses, I left them outside for several days but I placed a bar of soap in front of them. None were eaten. One night I heard a loud coughing & hacking noise, it was a raccoon that ate the soap and vomited that in a long trail of soapy bits across my garden. It was a mess to clean that up from the grass. Husband recycled the paper box that contained Irish Spring Soap and that stank up my entire kitchen. So I brought that stinky paper outside and placed on my raised bed .. haven't seen rabbits jumping on that bed for over a week, and the paper still reeked of soap. I found segments of branches & smeared that with soap and placed the branches as a "SOAPY SCENT BORDER" around rose bush. So far I haven't seen any rabbits around those "soap-scented" sticks-border, and the rain doesn't wash the scent away from sticks like smearing on bricks. Woody sticks and paper retain the soapy scent longest. Strong odor works for deer-control. Deer used to eat the leaves on my tall roses. So I hung Bounce-dryer sheets on the branches to deter deer. Perfumed dryer sheets ARE NOT as strong as Irish spring soap (which I smell it 30 feet away). Irish spring soap works best with its minty scent.

luis, we have snow! Sometimes very little (an 'open winter' we call it. It's hell on plants) or up to two feel accumulation. Then the rabbits either tunnel beneath and eat the bark and low branches or just munch the branches.from ground level. My point being plantskydd and rabbit scram, which are both very effective only work when the shrub is exposed not covered by snow .OTOH It may be worth a treatment in mid november to cover the first few months of winter. Dogs not in our future. Useless in snow, anyway. This year has been a boom year for rabbits. I think there was time for 4 litters. There are still baby rabbits eating the clover. It's going to be a tough winter. TJ, thanks for specifics. I was thinking a smaller guage fencing, but the plastic would be much easier to handle.

ALERT: THE SCENT OF ALFALFA ATTRACT ALL ANIMALS, including squirrels, dogs, rabbits and deer. From the web: "Deer love to eat alfalfa hay and will flock to established alfalfa plots. Animals like rats, dogs, bears, and bloodhounds have some of the most incredible noses ... These animals can detect a scent from a considerable distance and have a good sense of taste as well." I saw how squirrels ate my rootings in June, so I chopped up strong scent Italian Basil and put in my air-pots. The scent of Basil stopped the squirrels from eating roses in air-pots. I used invasive mint before to repel deer from my roses in the front. My TALL air-pots never have squirrels jumping in it, until I fertilized them with a STRONGER DOSE of alfalfa, since I'm out of ORGANIC Nature's Care soluble fertilizer. Thank God that the squirrels didn't eat the 10 buds of 4-months old Augusta Luis (bought as band-size from LongAgoRoses), see below: Early June a rooting did great, until I fertilized with alfalfa tea, squirrels are attracted to the scent of alfalfa and ate that rooting 1/2 off. Same with another 2 rose rootings: squirrels jumped into the pot and dug up both, after being fertilized with alfalfa tea. Besides squirrels, ALL ANIMALS are attracted to the smell of alfalfa, including rabbits, deer, and dogs. My 19-year-old daughter wants a pet bunny, and she asked me to get alfalfa to feed her future bunny. One time I poured a bag of alfalfa meal into the planting hole, and a dog broke away from its owner to rush to me. That dog was FAR AWAY (at least 1/4 acre away). I'm amazed that animals can sniff that far. That same evening, that dog which lived 3 houses away, broke loose from its home to my backyard in search of alfalfa. The dog was so attracted to the alfalfa smell that it came back the 2nd time. The owner came to my backyard looking for her dog. Years ago, when Ingrid had a problem with rabbits eating her roses in CA, she mentioned that she fertilized her roses ONLY with alfalfa meal. I wish I had known this earlier to inform Ingrid so she would not have quit roses altogether thanks to rabbits and drought. These pests have sensitive nose, farmers used to dunk corn-cobs in vinegar to repel rabbits. Another suggestion is to soak stinky ammonia in paper towel and put that in pots to repel squirrels and chipmunks.

Otcay - I would like to consider an electric fence, epecially a solar powered one. If it weren’t for the dog I’d give it serious thought. She is only 12 lbs and in and out of the yard a lot all day. I could try to shut if off when she was out there because the rabbits are not going to bother anything with her sitting there but I can see myself forgetting to turn it off or on. [g] I do have an area out front that I might be able to install a small one. She doesn’t go out in the front. Vgkg - I have photos of the rabbits sitting in my raised beds and then getting up on their hind legs to eat the peas as far as they can reach. I like the way you have the rows of peas inside the support. Mine are on one cattle panel and planted on both sides of it so they are very exposed. I may have to rethink how I plant them and add another trellis or fencing for support. Mxk3 - Thanks, I’ll check those out. Carol - That is interesting looking and I like the way you used hangers to make staples. Good idea! Everything has gone so high in price. Gardening has become so expensive, but lots of things have I guess.