Take That, You Wascally Wabbits!

(Insert trumpet sound) Presenting our new veggie garden beds! Ta da! Aren't they beautiful?

We've had a problem around here with some pesky little bunnies eating up anything green in the backyard. And now we think we may have a nest of baby bunnies brewing in the back. Lovely.

I've pondered a few different solutions - ranging from tolerating them to calling in the marines - and finally settled on a couple raised garden beds as the most humane and least taxing option.

Here's the before pic of the back of the yard where the garden is...

As you can see, it had become a dried up mess where no one wanted to be, except for a little girl and her shovel.

We used some plans from Ana White (that site is amazing!) and headed to Menards for supplies. The corner posts and a few of the end pieces are actually leftover boards from when we built the deck seven years ago. The rest are cedar fence boards - this is the cheapest way I've found to do it.  Add in a roll of chicken wire and some landscape fabric (or cardboard would likely work too) and you're in business for about $30.

I mentioned the plans to my father-in-law Tom, who loves a good project as much as I do. So he came over one Sunday and we put them together. (And by "we" I really mean Tom, although I did do my best to stand around and look helpful.) Just screw them all together and wrap and staple with chicken wire. It took less than an hour.

Then we had a couple yards of garden-blend topsoil delivered and my hero of a husband helped me by moving most of it to the backyard. I did a royally good job of ordering WAY too much, so kudos to Ben for moving a lot more than he should have had to.

Later in the week, I took a trip to the little garden store around the cornerand bought some plants. We now have tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, a pumpkin, basil, sage, parsley, lemon balm and dill growing in the back.

I've seen the bunnies visit the new garden a few times, but so far they haven't eaten anything. I also got a bottle of some organic bunny repellent and sprayed the perimeter of the boxes and the plants on the ground. 

I'm looking forward to all the yummy veggies coming in a few weeks!