The pests who typically visit my garden are insects. Leaf miners, pepper maggots, flea beetles, cabbage moths—all of them are nasty and ugly critters. A gardening newbie friend recently contacted me about a pest that is somewhat higher up the evolutionary ladder: rabbits. They are mowing down parsley, peppers, cabbage, and yes, the frilly fronds of carrots. Bunnies are cute, but they can cause a lot of damage.

Keeping rabbits away from the garden

What should she do, she asked. Great question. I asked other gardening friends if they had suggestions. One friend says keeping a German shepherd around has been a great rabbit deterrent. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option for my friend. But she was onto something, for sure.

What she was onto was creating a situation that the pests feared. I have since read in various sources that fear and bad tastes and smells are excellent repellents for mammals. Rather than using traps, cages, or toxic chemicals that could cause harm to the rabbits and even yourself, simply create an environment that is not attractive—whether that is due to the threat of predators or just bad-tasting, foul-smelling foods on which to nibble.

My friend did both. She found several recipes for homemade, non-toxic solutions that would repel rabbits (and other nibblers) and concocted something using a mix of ingredients.

“I just made the most disgusting thing I could,” she said. “Diluted apple cider vinegar, garlic, red hot pepper flakes and and small chunks of congealed blood from the butcher. Works like a charm.”

The vinegar, garlic and hot pepper create the unappetizing taste—unless it’s a rabbit that likes hot sauce, of course. The congealed blood has the smell of death and creates fear on the part of the rabbit. So far, no new nibbling has happened.

I may try this concoction sans blood to repel flea beetles, too.