One morning a few weeks ago, the Tiger peered out the kitchen window while we were getting breakfast on the table (he no longer says “breskit,” such a shame), and announced: “Mama, there’s some kind of kitty in our yard!”
Obviously my child has been exposed to too many fictional rabbits and Easter bunnies, because he didn’t immediately recognize that “some kind of kitty” was actually somebunny.
So we traipsed outside and watched him. The next morning, the bunny appeared again. And the next. Then, we didn’t see him daily, but he kept coming around – often enough that I realized he’s probably got a burrow in our yard or one of the adjoining ones.
My first thought was: cute cute cute! My next: We need to get some rabbit repellent and sprinkle it around our garden. The local garden store, White’s Mill (great place!), had some powder that’s harmless to all critters but apparently stinky to bunnies. I may be ruthless toward weeds and cruel to ants, but I am not going to hurt a bunny. I know there’s no ethical justification for sparing a creature just because it’s cute, but I have to admit I’m a sucker for cuteness.
For a long time, the rabbit was very well behaved, and so I didn’t bother with the repellent. We saw him munching happily on some of the broadleaf plantain that flourishes in our lawn.
Better yet, he’d hang out around the pea patch but he seemed to be leaving my peas in peace.
I thought we’d reached a perfect symbiosis. Two days ago, the Tiger and I looked out the window and spotted two “some kind of kitties.” (And we all know it won’t stop there! If you look closely at the noses on the two pictures above, you can see that they’re two individuals.) They were both so fearless that they let us get within six feet of them.
My peas were still looking good.
Then, the next morning I checked the rest of the garden and found my lettuce and chard decimated. They’d also beheaded a few of my purple pole beans. The lettuce wasn’t a big loss (it germinated so late that it was probably destined to bolt before the leaves were big enough to pick). But the chard! I sprinkled the repellent around and so far they’ve left the surviving chard unmolested.
My tomatoes, however, are flourishing.
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
A quarter of our yard is dedicated to our little family of rabbits. A while back I wanted to add some green, so I spent several hours researching “rabbit-proof plants” online. I made a spread sheet and spent about $50 at home depot on all of the best candidates. This made for a huge collection of samples.
Even though our bunnies are well fed, within 24 hours every single plant and bush was completely gone, all the way down to the soil. We just go for hanging plants now!
Oh, that’s not encouraging – though I bet your rabbit family is cute as can be. Are these pets or wild rabbits?
My problem is I’m trying to grow a vegetable garden. So if it’s yummy to me, it’s likely to appear to my little long-eared pals, too. I think I either need to throw some row cover over the most vulnerable plants, at least until they get big enough – or consider trying to catch them in one of those humane traps, and releasing them in the country. I’d kind of hate to see them go, though. The kids adore them, and I’m pretty charmed by them, too.
[...] personally am a big fan of chard, as are my resident rabbits. And I just as passionately don’t care how economical turnips are; they’d only be used [...]
[...] 28, 2009 by Sungold I haven’t seen our bunnies since I returned from Germany. They’re probably pouting about the cage we put over my chard. [...]