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Wild rabbits demolishing fresh Hugelkultur bed

 
Posts: 108
Location: Limburg, Netherlands, sandy loam
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cat urban chicken
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Ive made a smallish hugelkultur bed in the frontyard of my house. I've planted trees, shrubs and young pumpkin and zucchiniplants on it, along with some weeds (plantago, violets, comfrey). I've been watering it because we are having a dry spell and the bed's still fresh. Now the rabbits are digging trough to the logs in the bed, eating and dislodging plants in the proces.

Shooting or snaring the buns is not an option, as the garden is in plain sight of the main road.

Ive dug a trench a half foot down down, taking away the topsoil. Put in one year old logs (birch), filled the openings with soil and build the soil up again, using compost and the topsoil, leaving a shallow trench surrounding the whole structure. Right now it's about 2-3 feet high, 6 feet long and 3-4 feet wide at the base.

Have I done something wrong? I've just used the info on this site/richsoil... as I write this post the mailman drops of the Holzerbooks I orderered from Germany so I can do some more reading.
 
pollinator
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Location: North Central Michigan
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my guess, and this is just a guess..is that you have provided the only really habitable area in the entire neighborhood and they look at it as a perfect place to put their den..might I suggest you go to a zoo or circus and get some zoodoo..especially big cat doo..and place it in the area of the hugelbed to deter smaller critters..if that isn't possible try a dog or large cat !!..maybe allow a dog's poo to be put in the area of the "den"?? i know a lot of people will say NO as it can have parasites..but it might act as a deterrant..even human urine might help..

also you might try some hot pepper sprays or powders..and sometimes things like orange peels will deter some critters.

rabbits are a real problem in some areas.

another thing might be to lay some chicken wire over for a temp deterrant..they can't get thru that
 
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