run rabbit, run rabbit

If you haven't seen one before, this is what a wild rabbit looks like! Very cute, but a pest on our allotments. As well as eating anything (especially just planted young shoots) they are very good at squeezing through even the smallest gap in your fence, chewing through netting, or burrowing under even the most well maintained fence!

They've even been known to jump over fences! Natural England has some leaflets that are available to download online which offer practical advice about rabbit-proofing, including the correct way to build a fence. You can click here to go directly to these leaflets. Alternatively, you might want to rabbit-proof individual plots on your allotment.

This can be achieved simply with the use of bamboo canes and netting. Use old tennis balls to join bamboo canes together. Be sure to check the netting each time you visit your allotment, to ensure that the rabbits haven't chewed their way through. Holes can be fixed by threading string through the netting like lacing a shoelace.

Plastic cloches or fleece offer easy protection for young shoots.

Alternatively, blue water piping can be bought from any DIY store. It's fexible to use and cut to length. The picture opposite shows spring cabbages protecting by piping and netting.

Rabbits will tend to opt for the easiest available "food" so the more you do to protect your crops the more likely they will eventually give up and go elsewhere.

The use of traps or poison is discouraged because of the risk to other wildlife and humans.