Gardening for buns

[BunnyLiz]

Well my mom’s boyfriend just bought a house that has a bit of land, so Im going to TRY to grow something for the buns.  Herbs are probably easiest right?  I need advice on everything lol I dont garden at all.  Whats easy?  Herbs are easy, but are veggies easy too?  Which ones?  Please no fancy gardening terms because I wont have the slightest idea what your talking about lol.  And for soil is the plain old dirt thats there okay or would it be better to buy a couple bags of dirt?  With no special grow stuff or whatever right?  Thanks

[BunnyLiz]

O and flowers! What flowers can I put in a pot and grow on my porch that the buns are allowed to have as treats? Violet and camomile (sp?) ive heard of, I think.

[Deleted User]

… I’m not a gardener but my mother (talks to plants, etc…) says herbs like ‘poor’ soil, so no special soil necessary.
These are some safe herbs for rabbits to eat:

Basil, peppermint, parsley, garden cress, sage, caraway, dill, oregano, lavender, comfrey, dandelion, rosemary, thyme, clover, chamomile, coriander (cilantro), borage, chervil, lovage, mustard greens, tarragon, lemon balm, nettle

[Adalaide]

Well, the easy answer is that there is no easy gardening. Having any kind of garden takes a lot of work, including being in the garden every day or at least 3-4 times a week to weed. Do you know how to get ready for a garden? In most areas you’re ready to plant after you til. Of course if you plant a garden with the same or nearly the same things every year you’ll wanna use a fertilizer of some sort to replenish each spring when you til. You’ll wanna get plants from a home improvement or gardening/farm supply store because it’s far too late in the year to plant seeds in most areas. I guess lettuce is an obvious choice and pretty easy to grow, so is a spinach plant or too, but probably not so much of that cause of the calcium (unless you’re gonna have some too.) Carrots are easy to grow also, and you get a double benefit there, you get the orange half can share the part that most people throw away. Radishes are gross, but Freya just loves the greens. Also, I’ve always used old newspaper to keep weeds from growing between rows, just hold it down with a few stones that you pick out as you’re getting ready to plant.

The reason I also recommended weeding every day is because you really don’t want to be using any type of chemicals at all in your gardening. This means a truely organic garden which requires far more attention than one you spray to keep bugs away. I also plant marigolds at the both ends of every row, learned it from my grammy and it works wonders to keep buns away and makes some beautiful free flowers for your kitchen table. Of course a fence works pretty well too. We know you want to feed your bun, but there’ll be nothing left if a wild bun discovers the garden, and if he does he becomes so much a creature of habit that he’s likely to get eaten pretty easily.

Don’t forget to do tons of online research about what plants are best in your area and talk to local stores as well. Locally owned ones or small chains that cover only a small area or a few states are usually better sources of info than the big national chains. Good luck.

[Meg]

I agree with Petzy’s suggestions! Bunnies also like wheatgrass and it’s easy to grow. Go easy on the spinach and carrot tops – spinach is “High in either oxalates or goitrogens and may be toxic in accumulated quantities over a period of time” (HRS), and carrot tops are high in calcium.

If you put a layer of mulch (like wood chips, for example) on the ground around your plants you won’t have to weed quite as much. I’m a lazy gardener myself (but a gardener nonetheless) so I just wanted to encourage you not to get intimidated – there are lower-intensity options such as container gardening. For example, I have three pots of wheatgrass out on my front steps, so I can rotate one in at a time for nibbling while the others grow some more. I’ve also been growing basil, mint, and rosemary in the ground with some mulch around them and pretty halfhearted weeding, and it’s worked out okay. (Basil does need a lot of watering, though.) Good luck and have fun!

[Cake]

I do all my herbs in pots…super easy! (I have aspargus fern, mint, cilantro, rosemary, sage, pineapple sage, thyme

Then I also do lettuce and radishes (the grow super quick, easy to grow and the bun loves the green tops) All you have to do is buy the seed packets and plant. (you can also put these in pots) I also have daylily….and those I just got from my mom when she divided hers.

Above all it should be fun, not a ton of work. (unless of course you want a huge garden)

[MooBunnay]

I am also a beginning gardner, and what you have to do really depends a lot on the type of soil that you have. Do you have soil that you can dig a hole in with your bare hands? Or is it really solid and clay-like? If it is full of clay and hard to dig in, then I would recommend growing your herbs in pots. Just get some potting soil and a pot. Make sure your pot has a drainage hole in it, and then put some rocks in the bottom of the pot so that the water can drain out the bottom without washing all the soil out with it. Then, fill with potting soil (if you go to the store, you can also mix in some “peat moss” or “compost”) and plant the herbs in there. If you can dig in your soil with your hands, then it is probably pretty good to go for herbs. If it is shady, and you plant mint, be careful because mint grows like crazy! But my bunnies like it, so I guess thats not a bad problem to have

[jerseygirl]

Dandelions! You don’t have to do anything. lol Asian greens grow fast and easy (mustard greens ;o) ). Try perpetual lettuce varieties too – i.e. you just pick what you need and it keeps growing. herb & veggie seeds are cheap so just experiment. Mostly, grow what you know they’ll (Hammer) eat unless you’re going to eat some of the produce yourself.

Eep! Carrot tops high in calcium? I didn’t know that!

[Meg]

Dandelion leaves — yes!! Athena gets 2 leaves a day. They’re not awesome on calcium either (.2%; 57mg/1 oz), but I’ve heard they’re beneficial in limited quanitites, and they sure are plentiful!
Yeah, I was sad about the carrot tops… think I read that in the Rabbit Health in the 21st Century book. There’s this table in the House Rabbit Handbook that breaks it down (p. 57), and they give .32%; 91mg/1oz for the calcium content. So not great but also doesn’t seem totally drastic – really, I don’t know what the target daily limit is. For instance, that’s six times what lettuce has, and 50% more than timothy hay, but nowhere near alfalfa hay in terms of calcium.

[somebunny]

i have a question, as i just started a garden! um…do you actually grow enough to be able to not buy those particular veges you are growing from the store? so far for me, doesn’t seem like my garden will produce enough for my hungry bunbun!

[Adalaide]

I think that it really depends on the size of the garden Naz. I grew up on a farm helping my grammy with her garden every day. When you have half an acre for a garden you can feed 2 families and have extra. We live with my in-laws in the basement (I know, even I roll my eyes every time I think about it) and they have a garden that’s probably 6×10 feet. I imagine one that small would grow just enough to feed a hungry bun without much to spare for the people in the house.

[wendyzski]

You already have one of the best sources of fertilizer around – your bunny!

Google “bunny poop tea” and you’ll find lots of info out there.  I’m growing a bunch of greens and herbs in containers on my new deck, and when I filled the containers I just layered in some poops with the dirt, about 2/3 of the way down.  We’ve already harvested some greens and both Pepper and I are pleased with the results.

If you have get bugs you can try some of the soap-based sprays out there – they are safe to use until the day before harvesting – just wash well before serving.

I have sage, rosemary, lemon thyme, marigolds, dandelions, and some mixed red and green lettuces from the garden center.  I’m trying to grow some spinach, luffa, assorted greens and rainbow carrots from seed but am having mixed results so far.

[BunnyLiz]

Thanks guys for all the ideas! Cross your fingers that I have a sense for gardening.

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