How to Keep Rabbits Away From Your Garden in 2024

A garden is a labor of love, as any green thumb will tell you. There’s nothing that causes more heartache than to see your long-awaited flowers about to burst into bloom…only to be ransacked by rabbits. Sure, they’re cute, but rabbits are some of the most destructive garden pests apart from deer. Not only do they eat all types of plants, but they burrow to make nests and will dig up your lawn as well.

While they may pose a persistent problem, once you know how to keep rabbits away from your garden, you’ll be able to keep the damage to a minimum and give your greens a fighting chance. Here are six easy ways to repel rabbits from your garden.

Install a Physical Barrier

One of the easiest ways to keep rabbits away from your garden is to install a wire fence around your garden beds. While this isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing method of keeping critters at bay, it is very effective. It’s best to install chicken wire four feet high and buried at least six inches deep so rabbits can’t easily hop over or burrow under it to get at your plants. For protecting bulbs, they advise putting up a dome or cage of chicken wire secured over the bed.

Choose Plants Strategically

Hungry rabbits will eat almost anything, but an easy way to keep them looking elsewhere for food is to plant things that they dislike. Choose plants such as forsythia, lilac bush, zinnias, daffodils, lavender, and snapdragons for flower gardens. In your vegetable patches, choose onions, peppers, garlic, or other highly fragrant bulbs. They’re also known to not like asparagus or potatoes.

Spray Repellents

There are many repellant sprays you can buy that are safe for plants and pets but will keep pests like rabbits and deer away. Remember to spray your plants regularly (as often as the formula’s instructions allow) since rain and moisture from watering your lawn can decrease the efficacy over time.

Scare Them Off With Mirrors

Supposedly, rabbits are afraid of their reflection! Placing small mirrors or jars filled with water around your garden is an easy way to keep rabbits away from your garden. It’s best to place these reflective items near your most prized plants—or the ones they attack the most.

Sprinkle Their Least Favorite Smells

Rabbits sniff around a lot. You can try to keep them away from your garden by planting or adding strongly fragrant things that’ll send them hopping away. For example, rabbits detest onions, so you can plant onion bulbs or sprinkle cut onions around your beds. Repeat this method with Irish Spring soap shavings, hot peppers, garlic, or talcum powder for a similar effect. This method is not foolproof, but gardeners have seen success!

Remove Nesting Spots

Rabbits don’t travel far, so odds are, if they’re nibbling in your garden, they live nearby. Fill in any holes you come across and block off any access under your home or deck to deter rabbits from nesting. It’s also a good idea to remove any piles of thatch, brush, or leaves that rabbits could burrow beneath.

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