Dear Editor,
As the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing continues, I too, decided to try my hand at gardening. I was feeling pretty good about myself until the rabbits came to dinner with forks in hand for a gourmet dinner. Being jazzed to the whole idea, I found myself at war with the little critters.
It seemed we butted heads on what would be “rabbit proof”. Although there are plants that they do not like, they will try any plant at least once. So, on a mission and sheer determination to keep my babies alive, I decided it would be a great challenge to deter my friends from the lunch menu.
So, I tried different avenues to scare them off. I used little windmills which only fell apart from the wind, I tried smelly plants, which only seemed to make them more hungry and I tried fencing them off to which, I will admit, seemed to do the trick but for a short time and a small space, fencing is expensive. What to do
I searched the internet for solutions. Guess what I found? There are no plants that are rabbit proof entirely. So, I decided to try one more thing where I was sure they couldn’t win, container gardens! Success! I now have won the battle of the bunnies.
My husband joined the fun to and built me two raised bed, bunny proof containers. Now, my babies are safe and are thriving in their little beds, faces to the sun, I can actually see them smiling! Then, a new enemy appeared, leaf cutter ants! These little guys don’t actually eat the leaves they collect so they are not picky but they do eat a fungus that they create from them.
Which normal insecticides will not kill these ants. So, trees, bushes, flowers, and even some weeds are some of the leaves they collect but tree leaves are the favorite, they can strip a tree in one night and have colony’ s of ten thousand or more. So, it’s back to the drawing board my friends and our adventure continues.
Sally Morisset
Golden Valley
