I'm showing SM something when suddenly he freezes..."What the Hell!?!"
I freeze. "What?"
"How the hell did THAT get in here?" SM says.
I look wildly around thinking one of the dogs got in. Nope.
Rabbit. A full grown one too. "Shit!" I said walking towards it. The rabbit starts running and bouncing off the fence like a pinball.
SM is advancing on it too. The dogs are zipping back and forth picking up the slack along the fence line. The rabbit is flying now.
"Stop!" I wave off SM. We're at opposite ends of the garden now. "Maybe if we just stand here he'll show us where he got in."
By this time the rabbit is actually trying to scrabble UP the chicken wire in a panic. We pause.
The rabbit starts to run towards me, u turns and building up speed, launches himself up and over the rabbit-proof fence, clearing it and takes off, dogs in hot pursuit.
We look around for damage and find none. "It must've just got in here." SM points out. "Your beans would've been mowed down given half the chance."
"Well, Crap!" I say "Now we've got to figure out how the hell he got in here."
We walk the perimeter. SM reinforces a few spots that are slightly slack. If there's an opening, we can't see it.
Funny thing is, SM and I were just talking about a fellow a few blocks away that's got deer fencing up around his garden. Easily 8-10 feet high metal fence panels with wood posts. His whole backyard is garden. SM points out that he grows sweet corn which is likely attracting the deer.
We've never seen deer here YET but now that the rabbits are figuring it out, can the deer be far behind?
I tell ya, if it isn't the squash beetles, it's rabbits. Or blight. Or deer. Or woodchucks. Or granddogs who eat raspberries off the canes. (I have plans to squelch that this year!) Gardening is not for the faint of heart. Let's hope your rabbit was sufficiently traumatized by the two big humans and three slathering dogs that he'll NEVER venture into your garden again!
ReplyDeleteI have to tell you that I get a rabbit that goes through my fence every year and builds a nest to lay its eggs (I said that to someone once and they really believed they laid eggs). She raises the babies and never eats anything. The babies will nibble when they are big enough but never make any noticable damage. I know that when she is pregnant she has trouble getting in and out of the tiny fence hole, so maybe that is why yours could not easily get back out. Those dang baby bumps.
ReplyDeleteBad news that. We found two nests of baby bunnies in the pasture when we cut it for hay. The same pasture where the dogs are, but it's Riley whose been catching them! Go Kitty.
ReplyDeleteAs far as deer and corn, last year our deer ignored our corn, preferring our beet tops and buckwheat (which I was trying to grow for green manure.)