h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If it's Friday, then I will use Liquid Fence as a rabbit repellent. It smells like rotten eggs, so I may not use it in places where people are likely to wonder what that terrible smell is . I'd rather use "I'd rather garden," which smells like peppermint, but I'm running low on that. The next round of repellents will consist of equal parts of garlic powder and chili powder (with a hint of dishwashing detergent) mixed in water and aged for a few hours.

I have to laugh when I see some of the lists of plants that rabbits prefer not to eat. Some lists include Echinacea (which my rabbits feast on), Rudbeckia (likewise), yarrow (ditto), and squash (one year they devastated my squash leaves).

Meanwhile, foods that rabbits are supposed to love seem to go totally unscathed: hostas, petunias, grass.

Rabbits seem to have individual food preferences that bear no resemblance to thosen of other rabbits. Individualists!

"If it's Friday" ?
not being funny as such, but do rabbits know the days of the week then ?
I don't follow the Friday bit ?

If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium.

It is obvious to me that bostonian rabbits are illiterate - or read the wrongs books

Yes, yes, and yes.

The day of the week refers to my choices. I was trying to be funny,
but none of the three rabbit repellents I use are tolerable for more than a couple of days (mainly the odor ), so I have to alternate to give my poor neighbors a break. Yes, the rabbits are illiterate, which is fortunate in a way. Otherwise they would know that milkweed is not toxic after it has been cooked. Echinacea has some value for one's health; thankfully, the rabbits don't know this, and just enjoy he yummy tenderest buds and smallest leaves. The tough stalks don't get eaten, so the plant can refoliate. Many of the plants that they defoliated in years past grew new leaves and are still in reasonable health considering.

Even the hapless Juneberry bush in my backyard has bounced back from repeated defoliation. Be that as it may, I still dose it with repellent, just in case....

could chicken wire around the area be more cost effective against various rabbit repellents ?

Chicken wire would spoil the appearance. Our gardens are supposed to give people a sense of peace and repose, not remind them of a prison .

In years past, the rabbit apocalypse fizzled out after mid-July*. I only have to protect the plants for three or four weeks ore, and then they will be in bloom, and mostly too tall for the bunnies to consider for their buffet.

I walk through once a day, spray can in hand, squirting plants that seem vulnerable. I planted almost a dozen plants this past week, and they will get established within about a month. In the meantime, they will be much healthier if they don't get eaten .



*This year might not be like years past. There's a new family of bunnies along the ridge facing our entrance ramp. They have a lot of lawn to cross (no cover), but at night this is not an obstacle. I just want to make sure they associate our gardens with bad-smelling stuff . Bad-smelling to bunnies, of course.

paint it pink

What, the ?

I had lunch at my brother's place. He has no rabbits, but deer are constantly eating his hostas (Plantain Lilies). some people have a nickname for hostas: Dear candy

He's going to get me a yellow peony, if they go on sale at his local garden center.

First a pink rabbit and now a yellow pony This is getting curiouser and curiouser

Regardless of their color, rabbits are unlikely to bother peonies.
Fluffy Pink Rabbit continues to hibernate, so I'm not inclined to blame him for any missing leaves

We could blame 2legs as per usual but he don't look like no wabbit to me

A howitzer would stop any wildlife intrusion plus it'd redesign the garden

I have some large planters sitting on my porch. The animals don't bother the porch, so I will at least have some unscathed plants in a few weeks when they starting blooming.

Rabbits also have regional tastes.

Only a hundred miles from here, west of the Santa Rosa Mts., a row of giant chollas a foot tall in six inch pots makes an effective thorn barrier against desert hare invasions.

Here in the desert the sames species of hare chews them to the ground.