DIY Your Own Liquid Fence And Banish Rabbits Naturally, For Good

Ah, rabbits. In one moment, they're completely adorable as they hop through your yard. And in the next, they're an absolute enemy of the garden. Rabbits, the furry, wild rodents that famously love to sneak into gardens and have their way with fresh produce, can seriously damage your veggie crops. But what to do about the Peter Rabbits of the world when the usual methods, such as installing a chicken wire fence and regularly checking for and filling entry points, fail? Or, when it's just not feasible to create a physical barrier? It's time to create what is known as a liquid fence. 

Rather than spending your days meticulously tending to every tiny hole in the ground and turning your veggie garden fence into a cell block, whip up a potent concoction that will turn rabbits off from entering your garden altogether. The liquid fence is made up of everyday grocery and household items that, when combined, could put even the hungriest bunny off its lunch. All you'll need are eggs, garlic, dish soap, clove essential oil, water, and a pump sprayer. 

To make this concoction, you'll combine two cracked eggs, four cloves crushed garlic, and a gallon of water in a bucket. Make sure the bucket is one you're okay to have get stinky, because the odors of the liquid fence won't go away anytime soon. But the recipe doesn't stop there. After you've thoroughly combined the ingredients, allow the mixture to sit, preferably in the sun, for one to two days. This is going to trigger some extra funky fermentation that will push this malodorous perfume over the top. After these base ingredients have sufficiently been fortified, strain the large chunks of garlic out and add the liquid to the pump sprayer, along with a tablespoon of dish soap and clove essential oil (about twenty drops). Then, thoroughly spray the mixture around the perimeter of your vegetable garden; if you have a particularly large garden, you may want to double this recipe. 

Based on that ingredient list alone, you can probably guess why this hack works. Rabbits are sensitive to smell, even more so than humans. This makes it possible for them to sniff out predators and friends alike, as well as hunt down food sources, such as your lovely cucumbers and carrots. And the liquid fence plays off of this sensitivity; if you think rotten eggs and garlic left to ferment for days on end smells bad to you, imagine how it would make a rabbit's olfactory senses go on emergency alert and keep them at bay. 

By exploiting rabbits' sense of smell, you can deter them from your veggie garden with a liquid fence. Something to keep in mind is that it is extremely stinky, so make sure to do all mixing and fermenting outdoors only. You should also use gloves when mixing and handling the liquid fence because the scent will otherwise stay on your hands. Of course, it will fade over time, just as it will on your garden perimeter. If you can no longer detect the scent, it's time to reapply. You'll also want to respray after rain or watering. 

Tried the liquid fence but still finding little teeth marks on your bib lettuce? You can play with the formula, making it stronger with the addition of certain ingredients. Cayenne pepper is also a common ingredient in many liquid fences because the smell is overwhelming to rabbits. They also dislike the smell of anything super aromatic, like basil and mint, so including either the fresh herbs or essential oils in the mix can help with humane rabbit control. Just be sure to strain any whole ingredients before putting them in the sprayer to prevent clogging. And finally, if there's a veggie that the rabbits are particularly drawn to, give it a coat of the liquid fence as well — just be sure to rinse thoroughly before eating.