My condo backyard is a concrete courtyard. No soil. No dirt.
So I’ve had to create a garden oasis with potted plants… lots of hostas, bushes, flowers and trees I’ve gathered over the years… and of course, some rut pieces here & there!!!
But over the last couple weeks I’ve been seeing a new “resident” rabbit in the backyard. Every morning when I take my bike out, or water the plants, I keep seeing a small bunny hopping out from between the pots. At first I thought he was “cute.” A little slice of wildlife in our backyard. My next door neighbors have actually named him Monroe.
But now I see that this little varmint has started chewing on my plants!!! And I don’t like it!!! But to make it even worse, now it seems as though he’s making some “bedding” or just a beautiful “leaf carpet” around one of the pots??? So he’s not even eating the leaves… he’s just playing with them… just to taunt me even more!!!
Anyone have any suggestions on how I might be able to “encourage” Monroe to take up residence in someone else’s yard? Maybe some smelly flowers? Some pointy, prickly deterrents? Again, everything is on cement, so there’s really no way to stick in fencing. I don’t really want to wrap everything in chicken wire. But I also don’t want Monroe to chew off every leaf!!!
I’m open to suggestions!!!
It may not work, but you can try a pest repellent, like spraying everything with a mix of garlic and water – I used about a tablespoon of garlic powder to a quart of water, and a few drops of dish soap so it will stick. Perhaps Peter Rabbit won’t like garlic.
My all purpose varmint deterrent is moth balls. You can scatter them on the ground/cement around your plants. There is also a deer spray you can buy at hardware stores that also repels rabbits, though you have to reapply every time it rains.
I’m sure others will have recipes for pepper based sprays that will help but these two keep my hostas and day lilies mostly safe.