www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

To be honest I think I already know the answer to this but worth a try.
I have a customer who is having problems with rabbits in her garden. The garden is surrounded by grazing land and they can be quite clearly seen but have also made inroads into the garden. She's filled in the holes they've dug with rocks but of course they just simply dig elsewhere and have now started to dig up the lawns. A lot of young plants have been eaten by them too.
She has asked me if there's anything she can put in that will keep them away to which I said a bloke with a shotgun but she of course meant some sort of plant that they don't like and might drive them away. For the life of me I can't think of anything that would fit the bill . Our house has adajecent fields but is planted with maize and I rarely see rabbits but as she doesn't own the fields that isn't an option.
So , forlorn hope , but is there such a thing as a rabbit repellent plant?

Not had recent experience but if I recall from my youth, you dig a 2 foot (600mm) trench and put in 4 foot (1200mm) chicken wire (1" / 25mm mesh) and small supports above so that it lies below and above ground level.....

This stops the blighters either burrowing under, or jumping over. Allegedly.

Can't imagine any sort of planting fixing the problem.

Introduce mixamatosis?

Never heard of a repellent. Once they are in there is little she can do now, even shooting them only reduces numbers, they breed like...... well you know.

Thanks AI , we have tried the wire mesh around plants and it does work at least to a point even if it looks a mess , is a pain to cut around and I nearly always get a scratch down my arm from reusing and reshaping the same bits of esh over and over again. It does allow the plants to get established which seems to make them slightly less desirable menu items for Bugs Bunny and his chums. Young unprotected plants suffer badly , they've chewed lavender , roses and even had a go at a few new boxes. Unfortunately putting mesh around the whole garden isn't really an option owning partly to the size and partly because as she keeps ponies there are several large gates.
I've tried googling but that came up a blank too probably because there's no such plant although it too did mention netting. It did come up with chemical repellents but as these would probably need to be applied in the paddocks where the horses graze I don't think she'd be too keen.
Rorschach , you must have been earwigging . She said exactly the same about their breeding habits.

Hello all
A list of rabbit resistant plants is available here (some are poisonous to humans eg aconitum)
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=209

Chemical deterrant only effective for 6 weeks, washes off if it rains, and is only a deterrant they will still eat young tender plants. Grazers G1 is available but is expensive

Fencing
Some advice on spec on RHS site and Forestry commission

Grendel wrote:Thanks AI , we have tried the wire mesh around plants and it does work at least to a point even if it looks a mess , is a pain to cut around and I nearly always get a scratch down my arm from reusing and reshaping the same bits of mesh ... ... ... ...

Not sure you understood my post.

You dig the trench once & bury one long length of chicken wire...
all along the entire boundary of the garden, where it meets the grazing land. You protect the whole plot once, not each plant!

I understood what you meant but wasn't really clear in my reply , sorry for that.
I have put mesh in place as you suggest along one fence between the garden and the first paddock and there is mesh along one side to the adjacent field . To be honest it's a bit of a maginot line effort as the rabbits can and probably do go around and through the gate leading to the stables. The paddocks are largish and customer is reticent about doing the whole area . Again there would be a weak spot as there is another gate from paddock to the adjoining lane but she probably doesn't want to go down that route because of cost. Putting the netting around individual plants is a compromise but has worked to a degree.
To be completely honest I loathe chicken wire . The paddock and field edges tend to be the places where the nettles grow and she wants them periodically strimmed . She doesn't want them sprayed as the horses eat them but the chicken wire is harsh on strimmer line.

I wish I had your problem but then again it wouldn't be a problem for long

Which problem the rabbits or the bloody chicken wire? I'm guessing the former?

Grendel wrote:Which problem the rabbits or the bloody chicken wire? I'm guessing the former?

Yep

If it were me I'd use it to my advantage , pies , stews , jerky but unfortunately the customer isn't too keen on that approach . She put in complaints when there was a suggestion of a clay pigeon shoot being set up and certainly wouldn't want people shooting on her land. She wouldn't even get a decorator in to paint the windows because " they don't care where they walk and will trample my plants" . It's almost a pity rabbits aren't repelled by moaning , she wouldn't have a problem at all.