Looking for humane ways to keep those adorable but pesky bunny rabbits or other greedy critters from snacking on your carefully nurtured veggies? The best offense is a good fence! If a fence isn’t practical or affordable, there are other ways to get them to stay away.

Predator urine contains pheromones that emit an offensive smell to rabbits. You can buy coyote urine at most garden centres, or if you have a cat and use organic kitty litter, you can sprinkle that around the edges of your garden.

Animal hair is also said to keep bunnies and squirrels away. Sprinkling har snippings around the perimeter of your garden may help, as could cayenne pepper, garlic powder, or even ground black pepper. 

Wasps are another pest that might start to bother you as you spend more time outdoors. Here are some natural ways to help keep them away.

The Journal of Pest Management Science found that a combination of clove, geranium, and lemongrass essential oils repels wasps and other similar creepy crawlies completely. You can try applying these oils by mixing several drops of each with water and dish soap in a spray bottle and coating areas on the outside of your home where wasps like to build nests—under eaves, porch roofs, and other ledges and crevices. Target spots where you’ve found old nests in the past, since paper wasps tend to use the same location to nest again and again.

Try planting mint near areas where wasps tend to nest. Mint spreads incredibly quickly, so an option is to leave plants in pots, rather than planting them directly into the ground.

Remember that wasps are great pollinators, so limit your efforts to areas where you’ll be spending a lot of time, and give them some space to do what comes naturally!