How to Keep Rabbits Out of the Garden: 9 Proven Tips
They may be cute, but rabbits can quickly decimate a vegetable garden. Try our safe and low-cost ways to keep these critters out!
Quick Reference: Keep Rabbits Out of the Garden
- The one sure fix: a chicken wire or wire mesh fence about 3 feet tall, with the bottom bent outward and sunk at least 6 inches under the soil.
- Repellents: soapy water, vinegar, cayenne pepper, or coyote urine can help, but rabbits get used to them, so reapply often.
- Rabbit-resistant plants: rhubarb, tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers, basil, mint, and catnip are usually left alone.
- Clever decoys: fake snakes in the beds and cabbage-leaf treats planted well away from your garden pull rabbits elsewhere.
- Worst damage: early in the growing season, when young plants are most tender and vulnerable.
Rabbits are easy to love from a distance and hard to forgive once they have mowed down a row of young beans overnight. Before you declare war, it helps to see the problem the way nature does. Animals do not appear out of nowhere. They move in wherever there is food, cover, and no predator to worry about, and your garden checks all three boxes. Once you understand what a rabbit wants, you can plan around it, protect your crops, and still enjoy watching the cottontails do their thing at the edge of the yard.
Know Your Rabbit: Habitat and History
The rabbit raiding most American gardens is the Eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus, one of the most common rabbit species in North America. It is found in abundance across the entire eastern half of the United States, as well as into parts of central and South America. You can recognize it instantly by the pure white fur on the underside of its tail. Otherwise it is superbly camouflaged in shades of gray and brown.
Most adult cottontails in the Northeast average about 2 pounds, with larger specimens of about 3 pounds common in the South. In some cases, rabbits of over 4 pounds have been recorded. They feed at night and in the low light of dawn and dusk, and they never stray far from escape cover such as low vegetation, scrubby ground cover, and brush piles. For actual feeding they prefer open grassy fields and meadows. Rabbits dig relatively shallow holes in soft earth, well hidden under brush, and line their nests with leaves, grass, and fur.
What Rabbits Eat
Grasses make up a large share of a cottontail’s diet, especially the tender shoots of new grass. Even so, a rabbit is always browsing and will not pass up a chance at shoots, leaves, flowers, buds, fruits, or seeds. When green vegetation gets scarce, rabbits are happy to gnaw on bark and small twigs, favoring sweet-sap varieties such as fruit trees, maple, and sweet birch. Knowing this tells you where the pressure lands. Early spring seedlings and the sweetest young growth in your beds are exactly what a hungry rabbit is hunting for.
How Fast Rabbits Multiply
Eastern cottontails are highly prolific breeders, and the timing depends largely on temperature. In milder climates the breeding season can run year round, while in New England it usually falls between March and September. The young gestate for barely a month, females produce up to 4 litters a year, and each litter holds anywhere from 1 to 12 kits. Give them favorable habitat, ready food, and no predators, and a local rabbit population can explode in a single season.
That regional swing matters when you plan your defenses. Where the season starts earlier, so does the damage, so the fence and the decoys need to go up sooner.
Signs of Rabbit Damage in the Garden
Eastern cottontails can decimate a vegetable garden, sometimes in a single night, and the damage is felt most keenly early in the growing season when young plants are the most vulnerable. Two signs give a rabbit away. The first is a generous scattering of round pellets, dropped without much regard as the cottontail goes about its business. The second is the cut itself. A rabbit’s incisors are sharp and mesh perfectly, so they clip buds and stems clean, as though someone went through the bed with a pair of scissors. Deer, by contrast, tear and leave a ragged edge, so the clean cut is your tell.
Problems and Solutions: What Actually Deters Rabbits
There is no commercially sold rabbit repellent that ends the problem for good, but there are things you can do to deter them. Cottontails tend to avoid spots where something they find unpleasant has been sprayed. Common natural repellents run from coyote urine to soapy water, vinegar, and cayenne pepper. The catch is that these need to be reapplied often, and gardeners frequently report that rabbits get used to the smell and taste and go right back to feeding. The University of California’s Integrated Pest Management program reaches the same conclusion in its Pest Notes on rabbits, which rates a good fence far above any repellent for lasting control.
You can also choose to plant vegetables and herbs that rabbits find unpleasant, such as rhubarb, tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers, basil, mint, and catnip. Just know that a cottontail will simply move along until it finds something it does like. Some gardeners try to build barriers out of flowers the pests tend to ignore, such as begonias, Sweet Alyssum, or Vincas, but these have no repellent effect. The rabbits walk right past them and focus on whatever tasty thing is planted nearby.
What does have a real repellent effect is a predator, and nothing draws predators like abundant prey. If your garden fills up with baby rabbits, you will likely start to see foxes, owls, hawks, fishers, and even bobcats or coyotes move in. Domestic dogs and cats harass rabbits enough to keep the critters on edge too. In the old days, when more people put wild game on the table, humans were predators in the mix as well.
Some folks try to solve a rabbit problem with humane traps and relocation. The trouble with that plan is timing. Move a nursing female in spring or summer and you may be orphaning a nest full of babies hidden somewhere out of sight, which does no one any good.
- Get the fence up before you set out tender seedlings, since early spring growth is what rabbits hit first.
- The Gardening by the Moon Calendar lists this month’s Best Days to plant in your area.
Rabbit-Resistant Plants to Try
No plant is truly rabbit-proof when a hungry cottontail runs out of easier options, but some are reliably passed over. Strong smells and sharp flavors do most of the work. These are the ones gardeners lean on:
- Pungent herbs: garlic, basil, mint, and catnip, whose oils rabbits dislike.
- Bitter or tart crops: rhubarb and hot peppers, both usually left alone.
- Tomatoes: the foliage holds little appeal, though young transplants still deserve a guard.
The smart move is to ring the plants a rabbit loves with the plants it avoids, then back the whole bed with a fence. Pairing crops on purpose is worth learning in its own right. Our companion planting guide lays out which neighbors help and which ones to keep apart.
Think Like a Rabbit
Sometimes it pays to think like a rabbit. One of the ways cottontails avoid predators is to stay away from anything that gives up their position by sound or movement. Dry, papery material such as fallen leaves and straw means danger to a rabbit because it rustles underfoot. You will notice that a threatened rabbit often freezes like a statue, hiding in plain sight rather than letting a predator lock onto sound or motion.
When a cottontail is actually chased, it runs in a zigzag pattern to confuse the pursuer, and the high contrast of that flashing white tail is thought to help throw the predator off. You can borrow the lesson. A mulch of dry straw around the edge of a bed, or a bit of noisy movement nearby, works with a rabbit’s instincts instead of against them.
Protecting Your Plants
There is no better or more economical way to keep rabbits out of the garden than a good chicken wire or wire mesh perimeter fence. Set it about 3 feet tall, bend the bottom outward, and sink that bottom edge at least 6 inches under the soil so a rabbit cannot dig beneath it. You can also protect individual plants or rows with cages or mesh. Physical barriers are the most effective solution there is for keeping cottontails from destroying your crops.
Next, remove the brush piles and other escape cover that rabbits find so inviting. Anyone who has done spring yard cleaning has a story about coming upon a nest of baby rabbits while moving a brush pile, so work gently and check before you rake.
One strategy that works surprisingly well is fake snakes placed around the garden. They work like a charm, playing straight into a rabbit’s fear of predators.
Another approach is to offer rabbits a meal they find more tempting than your crops. It takes nothing more than some disposable chopsticks, a few lengths of kitchen string, and a head of green cabbage. Tightly roll a tender inner leaf of green cabbage around a chopstick or bamboo skewer, like a cigar, leaving about half of the stick exposed at the bottom. Secure the cabbage with a piece of kitchen string. Make a few of these and “plant” them in a grassy area well away from your garden. The rabbits will settle for the easy meal and, with any luck, leave your beds alone rather than fight past your fence for a harder dinner.
Keeping Rabbits Out of the Garden: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to keep rabbits out of the garden?
A physical fence is the most effective and economical fix. Use chicken wire or wire mesh about 3 feet tall, bend the bottom outward, and sink that edge at least 6 inches under the soil so rabbits cannot dig under it. Repellents and rabbit-resistant plants help, but a good fence is the only thing that reliably keeps cottontails out.
What smells and repellents keep rabbits away?
Rabbits tend to avoid areas sprayed with soapy water, vinegar, cayenne pepper, or coyote urine. The drawback is that these wear off and wash away, so you have to reapply them often, and rabbits frequently get used to the smell and taste and return to feeding. Treat repellents as a helper, not a cure.
What plants do rabbits usually leave alone?
Rabbits generally pass over rhubarb, tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers, basil, mint, and catnip. Strong smells and sharp flavors do the work. Keep in mind that a hungry cottontail will still sample almost anything, so use these plants to ring the crops you want to protect rather than as a fence on their own.
How can I tell if rabbits, not deer, are eating my plants?
Look at the cut and the ground. Rabbits clip buds and stems clean, as though snipped with scissors, because their incisors mesh perfectly. Deer tear and leave a ragged edge. Rabbits also scatter round pellets around the beds, so a clean cut plus pellets points to a cottontail.
Do fake snakes really keep rabbits away?
Many gardeners swear by them. A rabbit’s whole survival plan is avoiding predators, so a realistic fake snake placed among the plants plays on that instinct. Move it around every few days so the rabbits do not learn it never moves. It pairs well with a fence and a few cabbage-leaf decoys planted away from the garden.
Should I trap and relocate garden rabbits?
Be careful with this one. In spring and summer, relocating a female can orphan a nest of babies hidden out of sight, and many areas have rules about moving wildlife. A fence, decoys, and removing brush-pile cover solve the problem without that risk. Do what is best for your garden and the animals in it.
Edward Higgins
Edward Higgins is a freelance writer, artist, home chef, and avid fly fisherman who lives outside of Portland, Maine. He studied at Skidmore College and Harvard University. His article 10 Best Edible Insects appears in the 2020 Farmers' Almanac.
- Edward Higgins
- Edward Higgins
- Edward Higgins
- Edward Higgins
I put a plastic duck decoy at ends of random rows and a few in the middle. I only do this on the beans because that is what they go after in my big garden. It works for me. Hard to find decoys that are inexpensive though. They don’t last but a few years in hot Texas sun.
I use a cup of old milk to about a gal of water to spray on tender plants to discourage rabbits from browsing on them .they don’t like the taste.
How old?
I would love to no the answer to that question also???
concentrate on the easy meal, and hopefully leave your plantings alone because trying to defeat your fence would require too much effort.
This may sound disgusting, but it has worked for two years against a lot of resident rabbits and several local groundhogs. First, we put a deer fence around our 40′ x 40′ raised bed garden – this has kept the deer out for 15 years in gardens at two houses. Our new garden was devastated by groundhogs and rabbits until I began putting clumps of urine-soaked cat litter (contributed by our tabby) at intervals around the outside of the fence. It dries in a day or two, and then I simply smash the clumps and spread them neatly along the fence line. The end result looks like gravel, and the smell lingers all summer, even through rain, though not noticeable by me or any other human. When our cat no longer is with us, I plan to spread plain cat litter the same way and soak it with coyote urine. We also reinforce the bottom of the deer netting with pressure treated 2 x 6s nailed to the 4 x 4 posts. Nothing has tried to burrow under it, and I am sure the cat litter keeps them from even getting close enough to try.
Hi Kim,
Thank you for sharing this tip. Animal urine does seem to help keep them away. Appreciate you reading our article and sharing your tip.
My rabbits uses to love violets, so I planted them all around my gardens – they ate the violets and left the garden alone. But the past 2 generations don’t like violets! Now I have violets run amuck, and they are eating all my black eyed Susan’s instead! Guess I’ll have to resort to the Shake-Away fox urine, but I’ll miss my bunnies – they were almost tame
Hi Lori,
Uggh! What a pain! But at least violets are pretty! Hope the Snake-Away works!
I use dryer sheets around my vegetable plants.. They don’t like the sweet smell. I either tuck a sheet partially in the dirt close to the plant or tie on a stick or cage. You may have to change frequently if it rains.
I have raised beds with a chicken wire surround and this is the second time a rabbit has chosen one of them as a nesting site. The first time, I didn’t find it until the babies were present, and then we just lived with it. This year, I found the nest before she gave birth. I installed a drip irrigation system this year, and I fear that letting her stay would mean I can’t use it while the babies are present. So I’m removing her nest attempts (she’s tried 2 nights in a row now). She seems to be able to get over the fencing, which folds down, so I’m actually going to fold it down. I think she feels secure within it because she never chooses the bed with no fencing. But now I’m off to the dollar store for fake snakes and I’ll pick up some blood meal on the way.
Interestingly, I also tried using The Straw Boss fine straw as mulch this year, which turns out to be perfect nesting material. Ugh.
We co-exist. They’re just trying to survive. Aren’t we all? I provide black oil sunflower seeds in flat containers for birds and squirrels, but rabbits do enjoy them as well. Always a saucer-like dish, as the silly squirrels step on high-sided containers and tip them over. I assume rabbits like black seeds because it provides roughage for their teeth. I also leave out oats which they love. Over the years, these adorable wascally wabbits have taken few nibbles in the flower beds. Instead, they use the foliage, especially daylilies, to hide in. Give them options and they will come. Co-existence.
From someone who raises orphaned baby cottontails for release back to the wild, thank you for your acceptance of these adorable critters.
I’ve heard that getting a bar of soap and using potato peeler to shave slices off bar of soap and placing around plants that you don’t want damaged or eaten but rabbits.
Yesss..if you shave Irish Spring bar soap and lay the shavings around your plants…rabbits will ignore your plants…why can’t they just eat my grass and clover anyway!
I’ve tried this, it doesn’t work lol
There are sprays you could try Haley.
go to deerout.com and order the rabbit repellent.. their deer repellent works too. I plant a garden right on the river swamp and would not harvest anything if it was not for these two products..they really really work