Down with Long-Ears

We have a real problem with bunnies in our backyard.

There appears to be a family beneath our garden shed. Given that female bunnies can raise 6 litters in a single season, we are getting a bit over run. Our neighbor claims to have caught more than 22...

A mouth ago, I was exceedingly proud of my bunny protection methods. Our garden fence is a 20' by 30' fortress of chicken wire. So far, nothing has attacked my adolescent veggies. The beans are climbing up Joe's homemade tee pees, the peppers and tomatoes and potatoes are blooming, the cabbages look like some exotic tropical plant (I've never planted them before, so they're exotic for me!).

I put a flower bed in around the outside of the garden. My thinking was to pretty up the pragmatic vegetable part with a mess of extravagant blooms.

To keep the bunnies away from the Ben & Jerry's of the bunny world, my petunias, painted daisies, black-eyed Susans, and all the rest, I picked up a bottle of Repels All. It's apparently all natural, featuring a lovely bouquet of fox pee and rotten eggs.

It certainly repelled us, when I accidentally sprayed it up wind!

It really does work on the bunnies. They won't eat anything that has been sprayed adequately. Unfortunately, as plants grow, the new foliage and flowers are not protected.

Those naughty little bunnies will eat EVERYTHING that hasn't been sprayed down to teeny little nubs that can't possibly grow back. The result is a less than impressive flower bed. I am enjoying the purple, orange, and gold blossoms from the same two-inches of petunias that I sprayed shortly after removing them from their little plastic 6-packs.

I must admit, it's an improvement over last year's annuals, which were completely devoured.

I'm just going to have to spray the Repels All more frequently, start trapping the bunnies, or become accustomed to the minimalist look in my flower beds.

Yes, that is the coop coming together at the back of the garden!