Forgaging Garden

[VikingsNRabbits]

Viking and I are planning a foraging gardens for our rabbits on our patio which directly connects to their room.

My questions are:

Does anyone have one of these?

What do you have planted?

What did you plant in?

What’s best to plant?

What are the best grasses for rabbits?

Best vetegables, herbs, and fruit?

Do you keep drinking water near the garden?

Our patio is mostly shaded except certain times when the sun hits it for about 1-3 hours the entire day. We’re also on the second floor facing a lake. Our skates are big enough the rabbits can get through so any suggestions to block those are appreciated as well.

[Bam]

I don’t have a foraging garde, but I do grow a lot of plants for my bun. I think a foraging garden needs a year (a growth season) for the earth to settle and the plants to establish. If you let bunnies out in a newly planted plot, I think they’d be very happy, but they would probably dig up the earth and eat the tiny new plants to the bone.

It’s a lovely idea though. I’d choose lots of fragrant perennial herbs like mint, lemon balm, oregano, also rosemary and thyme and lavender. Fragrant herbs are often sturdy plants, modest in their need for nutrients and water. Buns like to have a nibble, and nibble is better than completely gorging. I’d also choose some good sturdy grasses. Orchard grows very well in my climate but there are lots and lots of various grasses that are all excellent for rabbits plus once they’ve put down root systems, they withstand grazing.

For color you could pop in some pansies or daisies or nasturtiums. Buns are likely to put an end to the prettiness rather quickly though. There are reasons why garden-owners tend to be less than thrilled by visiting wild rabbits. Some commercially grown decorative plants are treated with systemic pesticides that stays in the plant for an extended time, so beware of that.

You could have big pots with decorative plants and more sensitive greens, so the buns have to reach for the food. Then perhaps they’ll mostly eats whats on the ground. (I’ve saved my own mini pansies from being ravaged by wild rabbits this spring by planting them in pots. A determined rabbit can of course still reach to eat out of the pots, but it seems they just don’t bother because there’s so many other things to eat this time of year.)

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