[strider84]

Hi all,

I am relatively new to growing my own (this year is my first)

I live out in the sticks a bit and very often have rabbits in my garden. I was wondering what veg I need to protect from rabbits?

I have the following growing:

Spring onions,
Kale is about 6 inches high and has been transplanted in the ground for a week untouched,
Swiss Chard is about 8 inches high and again has been transplanted and untouched for a week,
Courgette Fairly large plants,
Squash again fairly large,
Radishes seedlings,
Beetroot seedlings,
Potatos fairly large plants,
Carrots seedlings,
Peas seedlings covered with make shift cloches (mainly to prevent slug damage),
Runner beans About a foot high,
Lettuce covered with cloches,
Aubergine has been left untouched since it was transplanted couple of weeks ago,

I am thinking of growing some other things so I was looking for a list of what they will eat from the veg patch? Currently the cloches I am using are old fizzy drinks bottles and its approaching the time for the lettuce where they are running out of space so I will need to remove the cloches........

Due to money and time I am looking to only provide protection for the veg they will eat.

Thanks

Matt

[compostqueen]

It's not just that they eat veg, they dig things up even if they don't eat them.   Fencing off the whole of the veg growing area in the first place is what most allotment holders do.  I didn't do so, and I now wish I had, but the area is just too large for me to do it so I try and keep everything covered at least til it's established

They will take onion and leeks, brassicas but not usually red cabbage.  However, they will eat anything if they're hungry enough. They don't normally go for courgettes and squashes. It's the digging up of things that really gets me angry    Fruit trees!  Make sure you put tree guards on them as they will eat the bark off them and the tree will then die. A hard lesson to learn 

[Beetroot queen]

I am so thankful we dont have rabbits as well as our other wildlife.

If a fence is possible i would go with that.

[strider84]

Thanks for the info so far they are tending to stick to one side of the garden BUT I did notice yesterday morning a couple of holes close to some of the veg thankfully no damage.

I will definitely fence it as soon as I can source the time and money!

Thanks again

Matt

[compostqueen]

I can't afford to do my whole plot as it's huge so I just try and keep them off the veg as much as possible.  Nature sometimes intervenes and we get them killed off by miximatosis which gives us temporary respite
Some on our site us snares but I haven't the stomach for it. I'd just rather use physical barriers to keep them off the veg 

[Springlands]

I lay prickly twigs around vulnerable plants - brambles or rose clippings for example. It is just enough to discourage the little darlings. As you say CQ the way they dig things up is really annoying.

[Nobbie]

I learnt the hard way on my new allotment when I planted strawberrys thinking they wouldn't go for them - nibbled down to the roots and then dug up for good measure I had about 80 winter veg ready to plant out so I just bit the bullet and bought enough 1200mm chicken wire to enclose the cabbage patch and then buried it 20cm at the bottom. For good measure I then hung a old fruit net over the top to keep the pigeons off. All that's missing is the guard towers and machine gun nests

I planted the greens out a week ago and fingers crossed, no damage yet. I'm trying to secure the fence around the plot, and leave a spare cabbage as a 'canary' to test if it is secure. Last time it wasn't, and it was eaten to the ground, but the squash were untouched.

[strider84]

I lay prickly twigs around vulnerable plants - brambles or rose clippings for example. It is just enough to discourage the little darlings. As you say CQ the way they dig things up is really annoying.

Useful I have plenty of brambles going spare

 

Some on our site us snares but I haven't the stomach for it. I'd just rather use physical barriers to keep them off the veg 

No definately don't have the stomach for snares either will get around to putting a physical barrier but may have to just muddle through until next year...... Thanks all

[Springlands]

Try the bramble trick for this year - it is free so nothing to lose and lots to gain.  Then perhaps over the winter you can try for something more permanent - winter is a good time for projects. The rabbits have not got at any of my plants since I used the rose and rambles cuttings and before that they had nibbled a couple of courgettes and dug up some lovely parsley.