rabbits - what's the best way to keep them away? Fence the whole yard or just the most vulnerable plants?

[killtherabbits]

Seems like they do have their preference: with all the other greens all around them, they've "only" eaten my lilies and blueberries. Fencing off the whole backyard seems like a lot of work. It may be doable - I already have white plastic picket fence all around for dogs. I just need to strap some kind of a smaller mesh to it 'cause rabbits migrate easily through the picket fence. Protecting just the lilies and the blueberries seems easier but the yard is going to look silly with the green mesh boxes here and there.

Which is the preferred way though? Is protecting individual flower beds effective at all? Or am I stuck fencing off the entire 75'x30' backyard?

Thanks!

[homeowners]

Please don't take it a wrong way but 75' x 30' is not a huge backyard :) With a helper, you should be able to roll out some of 20-gauge steel wire hexagonal netting and strap it to your vinyl picket fence in one day. I think this thin metal wire netting will be the least obtrusive against the white PVC of your existing fence and it can be bought rather cheaply at most home/farm supply stores. White <strong>UV-resistant</strong> plastic ties should  make it rather easy to strap to existing pickets.

Anyway, it may just be a matter of personal opinion (as long as rabbits can't get to the plants - any solution would do :) ) but I would prefer to wrap the whole yard especially since there's already an existing fence there. 

Oh, and another thing: with those blueberries rabbits are only a part of your worries. Birds love them, too!...

[Anonymous]

I say just fence the whole yard and make sure the fence goes a good distance into the ground. That should keep rabbits and other critters from getting to your flowers.