"John Hutchison" wrote in message
...
Hello All,


I've been lurking here for a while, and enjoyed many of the discussions on
here.

Please bear with me if I'm bringing up a subject that seems to reappear
every year, but I've done my searching and can't find any suitable answers
for my particular problem.

I've moved into a new housing estate last February, and I'm slowly working
my way towards getting the garden into shape, taking it a little at a time
as I'm new to gardening. At the front, I have a reasonable piece of turf,
with two borders - one at the furthest end of the garden from the house,
and
the other beneath the living room window.

The border furthest from the house is constantly being used as a walk-in
restaurant by the local rabbit population, and I'm nearly driven to
despair
by the tenacity of the little beggers. I have seen them destroy two
heathers, a couple of grasses (which were meant as sacrificial offerings
in
any case), some lithodora, and some tritellia (sp?). There is also a
dwarf
juniper that is VERY spiky and a small conifer (can't remember the exact
variety right now). Now that most of the readily edible material is gone,
the rabbits are starting to nip at the juniper and the conifer. When they
find that the shrubbery is not to their liking, they seem to decide that
the
roots might be tastier, and take a little dig and nip there. Luckily,
they
have not decided to gnaw at the bark of the Prunus 'Spire' that lives in
the
same bed, but I fear it is only a matter of time...

The problem is that like most new estates, I am prevented from placing any
reasonable height of fencing to keep them away. I can't use ultrasound
devices as they would upset my two cats (and no, the cats aren't much help
as they were raised in a city flat and are just about the same size as the
rabbits!). Short of using the wonder spray (lead shot), is there anything
else I could be doing to discourage my little visitors?

A mink/rat trap from Mole Valley Farmers, placed in the rabbit run, then you
can have rabbit pie as often as you like, there will always be a fresh
supply.

Alan
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