I planted my green beans, sunflowers and corn 3 times this year. The bunnies munched on the bean seedlings and I think the birds got the sunflower and corn seeds. I always plant more than I need but those pesky rabbits demolished my pole beans. Ultimately, I fenced them in with chicken wire after the third try.
BEST BUNNY HACK - plant bush beans in a straw bale! Easy to pick and protection from the rabbits. I even added two new plants last week for a later harvest.
This is my 3rd year using straw bale gardening. As a test, I planted both eggplant and bell peppers in bales and in the ground, to see which would fare better.
The Results: the plants in the ground grew much larger and produced much later than the plants in the straw bales. I was able to grow 4 pepper plants in one bale and 3 eggplants in another bale.
I have been picking peppers and eggplants for an entire month from the bales. I'm still waiting to harvest from the plants growing in the ground.
Final analysis - The straw bales win! I love that I can easily reach the veggies to harvest and who doesn't want fresh veggies sooner than later!