Thursday, June 5

Where's Elmer Fudd When I Need Him?

The rabbits are winning. Actually, I think there might be just the one bunny visiting the yard now. It's a very small one that's still capable of wriggling through the various barriers I stuck around the fence two weeks ago. At any rate most of my veggies are history. Except, curiously, the crook neck squash. The zuchinni is gone and the peppers with it. This means that if I want to have a garden this year I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves and get serious.

A friend recommend the plastic mesh stuff pictured here. It's called poultry fencing and is supposed to be better than wire. Certainly it has to be easier to work with, I would think. And it won't rust. So I'm off to the hardware store this weekend to get some. It come in rolls 2 and 3 food high, and 25 feet in length. No, I don't know how much I need. I think I'm going to just concentrate on surrounding the individual plant beds first and then if that goes okay I can move on to bunny-proofing the whole fence.

And while I'm at it I need to get something to replace the railroad ties currently bordering my tomato patch. They've gotten a bit nasty on the underside, kind of rotten and attracting the sort of icky things that like rotten wood. So I'm giving that some thought too. Ideally I'd like to do something with real stone or brick. Not that fake hollow stone stuff; I want something fairly sturdy. Of course that would mean having to cart the stone through the house to the back yard. On the plus side, it being stone I would only need to carry it as far as the back deck. If it's rock it should survive being tossed over the side of the deck rail, don't you think? Or I might try something like this:


Mind you, they aren't saying exactly what "this" is, but it's not supposed to break down, dry out or become brittle. Sounds a whole lot like plastic, doesn't it? Stay tuned.

3 comments:

The Merry said...

Two suggestions spring to mind:

1 - Rent-a-Dog. Tanji would be delighted to chase rabbits, plus you wouldn't have to feel guilty because if she caught one she would merely bark at it to keep running.

2 - Re-read Watership Down and try to think of the bunnies as kindred spirits or some kind of crap like that.

p.s. Yes, I know, I loved W.D. as much as the next impressionable child, but personally I'd go for option #1.

p.p.s. Aren't you equipped with an F.P.D.U? (feline pest disposal unit) Or is your model an indoor-only variety?

McB said...

My FPDU has been known to chase fluffy things in her youth. These days she's more like the cat in the cartoon ... "one of these days I'm going to have to get me a mousetrap." I think the rabbits consider her a lawn ornament.

Scope Dope Cherrybomb said...

I'll send you my FODU since she was a great mouser she would probably be good at that too. She still looks like she's hunting but she didn't catch the resident we had under the stove this winter. At least I don't think she did. It isn't here anymore so who knows.

I don't think I have ever read Watership Down. I must look into that. After I read Rumble on the Bayou.