Bunny Shields Up!

Now that we have several acres of lawn we've been chatting about what to do with it all. We've considered raising chickens, cows and planting a bush lot. We've also considered planting a vegetable garden.

Our neighbor Bill says that's a great idea – we already house the rabbit families on our property, why not feed them so that in the fall his Rabbit Stew is really tasty.

Hmmm. Not really interested in feeding the bunnies – I don't mind them hiding out in our trees (and even our wood shed) – but I want to eat the lettuce and tomatoes that come out of my garden myself.

So while Sherry has been starting seeds I've been putting in a Bunny Shield. It's an actual product from TSC (http://www.shopping.com/Keystone-r-Rabbit-Shield-Garden-Fence/info) the only thing is that there needs to be a way for people to get in and out of the garden without hopping over the bunny shield like some kind of demented… umm… bunny.

So I've decided to weld up a Bunny Proof Gate (well… a Bunny-Resistant Gate – saying Bunny-Proof is just inviting me to eat more than my vegetables!). It needed to be free-standing, compatible with the Bunny Shield and be able to keep bunnies out while letting people in.

Keep in mind that bunnies burrow.

I think I've come up with a pretty clever design using 1" square steel stock, some stainless rods and a pair of weldable hinges (also from TSC).

The gate is silky smooth on those hinges and I'm hoping that they're pretty much weatherproof since they are really well welded on!

The garden is 30x15 (or about 450 square feet) and it takes about 100' of Bunny Shield to protect the area. We've covered it in a Black Plastic Sheet for now to kill anything that might want to grow unplanned in our garden. I'm not sure how long it'll be there – that's Sherry's call.

Now, let's see how effective this fence is.

Bunny Shields Up!