Use Coffee Grounds to Naturally Repel Rabbits and Keep Them Out of Your Garden

If you’ve got a green thumb, tending to your garden and being rewarded with healthy offshoots might be your greatest joy. However, this enjoyment will be short-lived if you’ve got bandit rabbits in your neighborhood who like sneaking into your garden and munching on your low-lying plants, flowers, shrubs, and food crops. Moreover, if they become overly familiar with your outdoor space, they might also feel comfortable chewing on any furniture you might have outside. So, to keep rabbits out of the garden and protect your furniture, sprinkle some used coffee grounds around the areas where they’re usually seen.

Given their heightened sense of smell, rabbits like to stay away from strong odors. So, they’ll stay away from areas where they can smell coffee’s unpleasant stink. Further, their lack of paw pads makes them dependent on the thick fur around their feet. Since the coarse coffee grounds irritate their feet, this material discourages adventurous bunnies from entering areas where it has been sprinkled. This is a humane, time-saving, and effort-effective method that won’t cost you a penny. It’s also environmentally friendly and will increase soil fertility due to its nutritional content. Moreover, this fan-favorite pantry item will protect your flora from other mammals like cats, so you’ll get loads of benefits in just one hack. 

Sprinkle coffee grounds to keep rabbits out

Person sprinkling coffee grounds

To use this hack to keep rabbits out of your garden, gather some used coffee grounds after preparing your caffeinated beverage. If you’re not a coffee aficionado, ask your family, friends, or the local coffee shop for some used grounds. Then, distribute them generously around the soil, effectively creating a barrier around your plants. You can even add this material to a few containers or bowls and place them strategically to deter bunnies from entering. Adding some coffee to the soil of half-eaten plants will also prevent them from attacking it again.

Keep watering the grounds to help them stay in place and retain their fragrance. You can reapply the grounds as soon as they lose their aroma. However, monitor the rabbits’ behavior and keep them from ingesting the grounds, as coffee is a stimulant and may be toxic to them. You must also prevent your pets from entering the garden, as ingesting coffee could harm them as well. Another consideration is that too much coffee could turn the soil acidic, which may harm certain plants. Regularly check on your plants to ensure they are still growing and thriving. 

See also  How to Plant Fava Beans in Your Garden for Healthier Soil

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Authors at GlobalIdeas
Authors at GlobalIdeas

We exist to help communities in the Asia-Pacific make practical improvements to their own health. We believe there is immense potential to join the dots across disciplines to think differently, and we are united by a desire to see better health for all.

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