Journal

I have a rabbit problem.
Imagine my horror, when, lusting after a fresh garden salad I went to the veggie patch, basket in hand, ready to pick all the crunchy goodness my heart desired… only to discover that some fluffy little critter had beaten me to it! Yes, a cuddly wuddly rabbit had snacked on everything overnight from the carrots to the radishes. Lettuce, basil, and coriander… every bit munched. All that remained was the rocket. (Clearly he’s not a fan.) Yet he returns every night to feast on my delectable garden produce and torment my dogs from the other side of the fence. How do I get rid of this midnight marauder?

While doing the relevant Rabbit-Removal research, I considered all my problematic pests of late. Besides Peter Rabbit and his nightly raids, we have Moles digging the new London Underground beneath our garden, Snakes stalking the birds nesting in the trees, and the Birds making pests of themselves by eating our cherry tomatoes. And because they always deserve a mention on the pest-list… Insects. (Particularly ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes)

We could erect a rabbit-proof-fence around our veggie patch to begin with, but our veggie patch is not so much a patch as it is a very small sports field. So much chicken wire would be costly… and I’d rather attempt to dissuade the rabbit using organic resources.
In my searches I stumbled upon the wonderful workings of WILD GARLIC.

Planting Wild Garlic around a vegetable garden will repel rabbits, which dislike the strong smell. An indigenous plant, Wild Garlic is drought-resistant and is distributed widely across the country from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, to as far North as Zimbabwe. Interestingly, Wild Garlic is also a very good snake repellent. (Bingo!) Traditionally, Zulus planted Wild Garlic around their homes to repel snakes.
The crushed leaves may also be used to help cure sinus headaches and to discourage moles from the garden by their strong smell. (Bingo again!) The smell also repels fleas, ticks and mosquitoes when crushed on the skin. (JACKPOT!)

Another great find is USED CAT LITTER. Spread around the perimeter of your garden (while still fresh) and rabbits will steer clear. Cats are also one of the moles’ natural predators and pouring used cat litter down a molehill will effectively convince your underground squatter to move away. Snakes also dislike cat litter as the small granules become embedded under their scales.
Used Cat Litter might repel you though, and if you would rather not sprinkle the stinky gravel around the garden, opt to plant CATNIP instead. You’ll still manage to keep ravenous rabbits at bay.

Other natural pest repellent plants include:
LAVENDER – Rabbits and snakes don’t like the smell
MARIGOLDS – An excellent snake repellent, and mosquitoes dislike them too
GERANIUMS – Rabbits and snakes avoid this pungent plant
FERNS – Rabbits dislike them but snakes love them (especially Puffadders)

Other repellents to try:
CINNAMON OIL – Snakes generally dislike strong odours. Saturate a piece of cloth with cinnamon oil and leave in a small space you want to protect from snakes (like a children’s tree house)
CASTOR OIL – An excellent repellent for moles. (It gives them an upset stomach)
CEDAR OIL – For fleas!
VICKS VAPORUB – Rubbed onto the ankles and legs before a walk in the bush will keep the ticks away
COMPANION PLANTING – A preventative measure of pest control VERMILEACHATE – We call it “Worm Tea”, but it’s basically the wee from your worm farm. Spraying it onto plants masks them from insects

As for the birds, I have opted for Scare Tactics. Hanging old CD’s from trees around the veggie patch works a charm. They flap in the wind and flash in the sunlight, and birds dislike the blinding reflections.
Unusual noises also frighten birds. Try wind chimes.

For me, the important thing to remember is that not all pests are bad. Organic pest control will never be full proof, which means that the occasional mole will aerate the garden soil, and maybe a bird will munch a tomato here and there spreading the seeds further a field. Snakes will keep the rat population down and birds will eat the insects… Nature is cyclical. It should remain that way.

I’ll try not to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Keep going green…

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