Last year Bugs Bunny and friends did major damage to our pole beans. We only saw a couple of them at any one time, and never actually eating anything. But they ate almost all the new shoots from the bean plants. They didn’t have the decency to wait and eat the bean themselves. And we didn’t get to harvest enough to do one run of canning. Ron was annoyed at me because I didn’t let him trap the blasted things. He had waited too long and I was worried about any baby bunnies being left behind. Being the non violent folks that we are, Ron had been using humane traps do to some relocating. He had earlier caught five all told, one at a time and took them on a lovely car ride, leaving them 20 miles away in a same nice wooded area. Just so they wouldn’t be lonely.
After they killed all the beans, Ron started muttering about hasenpfeffer. So I knew that this year we had to do something different. Ron’s attention is focused on his new farm, so much so that I had to tell him flatly that he could not decide that we were not going to have a garden this year. I know that is what he was thinking. After he got, not only us, but all my friends at work hooked on our fresh veggies, no way was I going to let him quit cold turkey. I did have to agree that Jo and I would pick up the slack. Course, Jo had no idea I had just promised her time and energy to the garden gods.
So after I talked Ron out of planting 4 beds this year, we got the beans in two weeks ago.  Two beds of beans is going to be enough for us to have both fresh beans for dinner and to do maybe two runs of canning.   We started thinking about what we could use to keep the bunnies out, and Ron came home with rolls of chicken wire. Last night we went out with the wire, staple gun and hammer and got’er done.

I defy any bunny to get into these beds. If they do, they will have earned all the beans they can eat.  And my undying admiration.  But they would still be rewarded with a 20 mile car ride. This fence should actually keep the squirrels out too.  They have been digging around all the beds looking for whatever they buried last fall. They don’t do too much damage, just annoy Ron.