I could cry..

...well, in fact I did. Just come back from a long weekend in the Scottish Borders; tour of inspection of the garden reveals that the rabbits have had a field (or rather garden) day. Carrots, sprouts, parsnips all gone. Why don't they like lettuces? Phloxes all denuded of flowers and leaves, including one in a pot I was nurturing back to health after wind damage. New hemerocallis chewed, new acanthus and many, many more.
In the past I've used a preparation called Grazers to spray on plants which has worked quite well in deterring them, but not this year. We have an acre of land, completely surrounded by farmland, so fencing the lot against rabbits is going to be prohibitively expensive. I suppose we'll have to fence the big new flowerbed, which won't be pretty, until the plants get established, but then I suppose they will turn their attention to the rockery and raised beds.
We've got a dog and my daughter's excellent rabbit hunting dogs visit frequently, but just four days with no human or dog presence and they really took advantage.
I am normally a cheerful optimist, but at the moment I am really depressed. :( :( :(

 

Oh Lorna..that is so sad. I know I would also be depressed after all the hard work it must have taken.

 

oh that is so disheartening
BIG HUGS

 

Oh dear :( Must be SO frustrating. I get miffed if a slug has a go at a cabbage!

 

That's just horrible Lorna. You need a nice rabbit stew to cheer you up...........

 

Darn, that's no good, sorry about that :( /hug

 

Aww Lorna sorry to hear your news thats so upsetting for you when you have worked so hard....

 

High Power Ultra Sonic Animal Repeller

High Power Ultra Sonic Animal Repeller Free Delivery : Animal Deterrents : Maplin

available from maplins .... works on those 4 legged 'purry' animals that we are not alowed to mention on this site .... may work with rabbits aswell? ...

I have installed one in a garden a few days ago, and so far, so good

 

Sorry to hear that Lorna, I know just how you feel. The garden where I work is full of these little furry pests, so I know just how much damage they can cause.
The vegetable and cutting gardens are fenced off, but as you say it's simply not practical to fence off an entire large garden.
Solutions? We have found the cage type rabbit traps, baited with carrot, effective in reducing rabbit numbers, and as a result reduced (but not completely eliminated) the amount of damage caused.
Otherwise, we've simply learned to live with them. By a process of trial and error we've found out which plants are rabbit proof and which are not.
I shudder to think how much of my employers' money has been spent on trying out different plants which have subsequently become rabbit fodder, but we've persevered and now have borders brimming with rabbit proof colour.
There are plenty of shrubs and flowers which are rabbit proof, it's just a question of finding out which ones.

 

The trouble is, I really like rabbits as little furry creatures! I can't eat them, but I don't mind sending my daughter's lurcher after them!

 

I could eat em. I just couldn't be the one to catch and kill them. I think they're cute too but can be terribly destructive!!!

 

Sympathies and big hugs.

I'll send Andy round



He'll sort them out

 

Is this the culprit Lorna ?

 

Can that thing even MOVE Harry?????