Rabbit Battles: Fence in your beans!

I wish someone had told me this, but I had to learn the hard way, when a rabbit nibbled the leaves clear off of several plants, leaving naked stems. I had planted pole beans throughout my yard, front and back, with dreams of an abundant harvest. A rabbit, of course, had its own dreams. The best laid plans, right. I did salvage a few, shoveling them up and transplanting them to a spot behind a fenced-in area of the garden.

Also, for some reason, the rabbit missed several beans I had planted in front of my house's chimney. I planted them there because the spot received little sun, and I figured the heat from the brick chimney would keep the soil and beans warm enough. This seems to have worked as they're growing well, their vines tangled up and through some old wood lattice I propped up there.

Out front, I had planted a row of bush beans where my yard meets the pavement, and it seemed like the rabbit missed these, too, until I woke one morning to find bare green stems poking from the dirt. Damn! I swear at this point I felt like Elmer Fudd, stalking around my yard with a rock in hand, waiting for the little cotton tail to show itself. I dug up the bush beans that had a few remaining leaves and transplanted them to a fenced-in spot I quickly made. I used some chicken wire and PVC pipes to erect the fence. They're now filling in nicely, safe behind hardware cloth.

Today (July 3, 2014) all my beans are clustered behind fences with fat green leaves, safe from the rabbit's teeth. "Good fences make good neighbors," I think, but soon hear the rabbits reply: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall." And, I see him there in the early morning, just before sunrise, pacing before the fence, trying to find a way in.

Not this time, Mr. Rabbit. Not this time.