The best way to prevent rabbits from munching on your garden is to fence them out with a 1 inch or smaller chicken wire mesh. Since the small mammals are adept at burrowing, you may need extend the fence 6 inches into the soil, or if that is impractical, pile rocks to a 1 foot height around the periphery of the fence.

Rabbits can be discouraged from gnawing on young shrubs and saplings by encircling the tender plants with 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth up to at least to a 2 foot height, or even higher if deep snowfalls are common.


To control burrowing, the mesh should extend into the soil at least 3 inches or a rock barrier should be erected at the base of the mesh circle.

Ask your neighbors or at your local garden center what works best locally as some gardeners swear that scattering old, leather shoes in the garden is a useful deterrent while others sprinkle used litter from the cat box or depend on spray formulations of animal by-products.