Keep groundhogs and bunnies away from your garden

Keeping your yard beautiful is a task in itself with gardening and lawn care, but dealing with pests like bunnies and groundhogs eating your plants and digging holes can add an extra challenge. Take heart and try some of these low-cost fixes!

A groundhog (aka woodchuck) has taken up residence in a burrow that's conveniently next to your backyard garden. The pest control company wants a couple hundred dollars to remove him.

• Even if the cost doesn't give you pause, then the traps or poisons that some of them use will — particularly if you have kids or pets.
• What the pest control company won't tell you is that it's easy to stink a groundhog out of his home — for zero cost.
• Each day when you scoop out the cat boxes in your house, dump that foul-smelling debris down Mr. Groundhog's hole instead of throwing it into the trash can.
• After a few days of this treatment, the groundhog will pack up and move. Once he's gone, pour rocks into all of the entrances to the burrow so no other animals will decide to move in.

Numerous sprays and powders are sold to deter rabbits from the garden, but many of these are not safe for use on garden vegetables.

A rabbit-proof fence is the best protection for your vegetable garden.

1. Use chicken wire and make sure the fence's bottom is buried by at least 15 to 30 centimetres (6 to 12 inches), otherwise the rabbits will tunnel underneath it.
2. The fence needs to extend at least 75 centimetres (30 inches) above the ground.

Because a fence is an unattractive addition to many gardens, you may want to try a few of these low-impact deterrents against voracious bunnies.

• Remove brush piles and other hiding places for rabbits. Clean up spilled birdseed from feeders.
• Post realistic-looking rubber models of snakes or owls in the garden, or cut an old hose into snakelike lengths and coil them among your plants.
• Hang dog hair in cheesecloth bags or distribute it among the plants to frighten away rabbits. Strong-smelling soaps are also said to deter rabbits.
• You can buy coyote or fox urine to spread among plants, fooling rabbits into thinking a predator is nearby.

Remember, rabbits are not dumb bunnies. Eventually, they will figure out they're safe from each of these deterrents, so you'll have to mix up your methods to keep them on their toes.