While the Easter Bunny hides eggs in your back yard, what havoc will his cousins wreak in your garden?

Easter bunnies have been hiding eggs and bringing candy to American households since German immigrants brought with them legends of an egg-laying rabbit, celebrating the fertility of spring. A time of wonder and renewal, Spring brings the promise of the summer’s abundance, so rites of spring fit well with Christian Easter celebrations. From chocolate bunnies in Easter baskets to ice sculptures at lavish brunches, somehow rabbits pop up everywhere at this time. They pop up everywhere outside, too, as they emerge from winter hidey-holes and start their families.

Neighborhood kids are always delighted to spot a rabbit in the yard or garden – if not the Easter Bunny himself, surely his cousin! Their parents are often less than enthusiastic, as those cute bunnies seem to have a motto of, “You plant it, I eat it.” And they reproduce like, well, like bunnies. Rabbits can have as many as 7 litters a year, with 1 to 12 kits per litter. In general, a female will average around 30 kits per season. Their range varies, but often covers just an acre or two. These numbers mean there’s the potential for a bunny apocalypse in an ordinary suburban garden.

For years, I battled bunnies with a relocation program. If I could circle the house and garden once and count ten bunnies, out would come Grandpa’s rabbit trap. I still see a lot of rabbits, but I haven’t bothered with the trap for several years. Instead, I’ve figured out ways to prevent or at least limit the damage they do, so I can enjoy their company.

Barriers

If rabbits can’t reach your plants, they can’t eat your plants. Barriers are the most effective method of *preventing winter damage from rabbits*, and they work during the growing season as well. Effective fencing should be buried several inches so rabbits don’t just tunnel under it. If you’re trying to keep out groundhogs and other critters, leave a floppy top of fencing extending above your stakes. Tender new growth and early spring buds are especially tempting to rabbits trying to fill their bellies after a long winter. Temporary protection may be all that’s necessary, until early sprouts get bigger and less appealing.

Scent

Commercial “keep away” sprays use ingredients like blood or coyote urine to send a “Danger! Stay away!” message to bunny noses. A friend of mine swears by using Milorganite^TM, a fertilizer made from sewage sludge, to keep rabbits away from her flowers. I’ve smelled wet Milorganite, and it would sure keep me away! For a garden that’s not right under your window, however, it’s a great organic fertilizer.

Strong herbal or citrus scents also seem to ward off rabbits, either because they don’t like the smell or because they mask the tasty garden smells. Snow peas planted in my spearmint patch don’t get a single nibble from hungry bunnies. A strip of peppermint along one edge of my driveway gets “mowed” with a weedwhacker and used to keep rabbits out of my vegetable garden. I scatter the trimmings around my bean and pepper plants to confuse their little bunny noses. Sometimes I’ll gather an armful of peppermint, oregano, or thyme to chop it with my chef knife for extra-aromatic strewing herbs.

If you don’t have fresh herbs handy, essential oils are effective and easy to use. Douse cotton balls or other porous materials with mint, lemon, lavender, rosemary, cinnamon, or other strong-scented oils, then distribute them around your garden. Steer clear of mothballs or other toxic “remedies” – you don’t want to save your veggies from the bunnies only to discover they’re no longer fit for you to eat, either.

Taste

Hot pepper sprays are effective but need to be reapplied frequently, despite their “rain proof” paraffin base. Systemics like Bittrex tabs are taken up by the root and make the entire plant taste bad – effective protection for a shrub border, but unwelcome in a vegetable garden. With taste deterrents, every bunny passing through must sample the plants to discover they don’t like them, so plants still get nibbled, just not browsed to the ground.

rabbit in woods SQ250bbb.jpg

Good-tasting plants can also be used to lure rabbits away from the smorgasboard in your garden. Alfalfa pellets (sold as rabbit food) are an excellent, gentle organic fertilizer. Some people swear rabbits will eat them in preference to daylily buds. Others say scattering them in the garden just invites more rabbits to dine. We let clover grow in our back lawn and around our fruit trees. It can also be used as a “green mulch” between garden rows. Our bunnies seem to prefer white clover to most other garden “eats.” They still take an occasional nibble of something else, but encouraging clover has definitely cut down on rabbit damage.

Take a multifacted approach. Use scent deterrents throughout your garden areas. Create barriers to protect special plants or to fence in vegetables. Use pepper spray to protect new buds. And let clover grow to provide rabbits with an alternative food. In return, they’ll provide your garden with fabulous, free organic fertilizer. When they’re not such pests, bunnies are fun and welcome garden guests!

Thumbnail image adapted from photo taken by “ZeWrestler” at The Chocolate House in Luxembourg, 25 March 2014, uploaded to Wikimedia and licensed under Creative Commons.

Photo of Eastern Cottontail taken by Jill M Nicolaus, all rights reserved.