Growing food for buns!

[mocha200]

 It’s that time of year again! I have a few questions to ask you guys. I want to grow some veggies for my buns again this year but I kind of have a late start.  I was wondering if it is safe to buy already started herbs and lettuces? I went to a natural food store( who also has beautiful plants) today and their parsley and lettuce looked SO good! I noticed that they had white circles in the dirt, so that must be fertilizer? Is that safe to buy and bring home and transplant? I don’t buy organic veggies for my rabbits and I am sure they use fertilizer on those. I always wash them before I give them to the bunnies. I also saw this posting from Dana Krempels: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/rabbits-poo.htm In that link she says that grass is ok if it hasn’t been fertilized recently. So if I bring it home and transplant it and let it grow a while should it be ok?

If not I can grow from seeds and just plant herbs this year.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Inside or outside? Pretty much all my lettuces are done in from the heat, I’m going to look for a heat resistant strain to replant in a week or so though.
White balls are perlite, perfectly safe for veggies. It helps the soil from compacting and allows better root growth.

[Sarita]

That is the only way I grow anything – I’ve never grown from seeds. That is plant food and it’s perfectly safe as SLH states.

Go for it!

[mocha200]

Thanks!

I will be growing the herbs inside but if I get lettuce I will be putting that outside.

[Jessie1990]

I am currently growing 3 pots of herbs on my window sill because I live in an apartment. Ashe didn’t like the cilantro from the store so I tried growing some… she still doesn’t like it so I will probably dump it and find some mint to grow. Apparently I made a mistake when planting because two of my pots are cilantro LOL. So I guess I will dump two. Other than that I have Thai basil. The basil grows well and she loves it. I don’t have enough room to grow all the veggies she requires so they are just additional treats that I trim off every so often for her when she is being extra well behaved

[LittlePuffyTail]

Good luck with your planting! I usually start mine around June for my buns. Love getting fresh home-grown veggies for them. I grow all my veg from seeds but sometimes buy herbs already planted.

[Elrohwen]

Good luck! I’m also late this year and am hoping to get some stuff in the ground this weekend. We still don’t have the fence up yet, so there wasn’t any point in planting if the deer were going to eat it immediately.

Yes, the plants sold at garden stores will be fine. They are meant for eating for humans, so will be safe for rabbits. Finding organicly grown seedlings might make you feel better, but it’s not necessary.

[mocha200]

 OK so I got some herbs and a few leafy greens at a local green house. I was overwhelmed at how many herbs they had in so many different variations! Chocolate Mint! Mmm! Didn’t get that for the bunnies .

Here is a few pictures of everything I got:

 

 

So what are all those green plants? Well, I’ll tell you:

• Basil
• Cilantro (although I’m not to sure if it is now that I brought it home. The sign was just laying on top of all of the plants so we just assumed it was… If I posted a pic could you guys help me out?)
• Dill
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Italian Parsley
• Kale 
• Spinach

I also have another question: Where should I plant the herbs? Indoors or out? The Kale and Spinach will be outside.

If I plant them indoors I REALLY want to do something like this:

This is my favorite!

I think it would looks so nice in my room but I wasn’t sure if their would be enough sunlight?
 

If I plant them outside then I have to worry about freezing (Yes, sadly it is going to freeze tonight) although I would probably plant them in pots. The biggest problem is animals. LOTS of dear who have ruined my Grandma’s garden until they built a nice fence around it. We also have rabbits. I know I love bunnies but I guess I’m selfish and only want my plants to be for my bunnies and I wouldn’t want any diseases to spread to my bunnies. Eventually I want to get something like this with a mesh top for it:

Wheels would be handy for rolling into the garage on cold nights.

I got all those pictures from Pinterest. Anyone on here use it?

 

[Deleted User]

Nice selection!

Except for rosemary the herbs you bought are all annual. (Oh maybe the oregano isn’t, can’t remember.) They’ll grow well in pots but do generally all prefer lots of sunlight. They may last longer in pots, but excepting the rosemary you will lose them some time late autumn. (If memory serves oregano maybe perennial but doesn’t like life in a pot, … know I didn’t choose it for inside growing so it was one of those two reasons.) They usually want about six hours of direct sunlight everyday, year round if you are growing them inside. I’ve had a pot of rosemary on my window sill for five years and its a monster at this point (a little more under control since I’ve had two helpers enthusiastically eating it.) You can always pot them and bring them all out when its a bit warmer, in at the end of summer and keep them for as long as they hang on, … just one idea. And for any that you do plant outside remember you can cover them on cold nights (garbage bags or sheets, I’ve seen both used successfully), they canmake it.

Good luck and happy gardening!

[mocha200]

 I think I will keep the rosemary inside. I may have to scratch my Mason Jar method as I think they might grow better on a shelf by the window. Maybe I can get it to work though, I haven’t really focused on how much sunlight my walls get a day. 

I looked it up and parsley is a biennial which will live for 2 years before going to seed and dying. Cilantro is supposed to be one too, but I still don’t know if mine is a Cilantro plant. Oregano is a Perennial. I will be doing more research on these plants so I know where to put them. 

I have some mint plants ALL over close to where my outdoor rabbit pen so I always have a never ending supply of it (it spreads like a weed! The people who owned this property before us must have planted them).

Here is something else I got yesterday:

Its Timothy Grass Seed! I will be planting this in my outdoor rabbit pen as all their urine must have burned the grass last year because only a little came up this spring. 

 

[Deleted User]

Jars are pretty but think your plants will want more room, … and repotting (which you do need to do eventually) is a real pain.

Okay, I couldn’t place the oregano, I’m pretty sure it was a picky one that didn’t do well indoors though. Parsley depends on your zone, and if you are still having night so cold now then I’m guessing you are in a similar zone to where I am, and here it is an annual. Still, if you plant it outside there’s no harm in waiting and seeing if it makes a return next year.

Mint is the easiest of them all, … and any kind is a “weed”, … Love those Weeds!

A simple rule of thumb with herbs is to remember most of them originally came from hot (often Mediterranean) places. They like sun and heat, and they do Not want wet feet. They need enough water but soil has to be well drained, and its better to let it get dry to the touch then to have it damp. (A side note, its best to pick them when the leaves are dry, … after the dew or watering has had time to evaporate.) There are always exceptions (to keep it complicated) but that’s a good starting point.

I checked a lot of specific herbs by using the herb’s name and “growing in pots”, or “indoors”, on Google. Some excellent sites (and forums) out there for growing information and advice.

Timothy Grass!!!! I’m jealous, so glad Blackberry and Silver don’t know, they’d be jealous too! I’m sure your furry ones will be thrilled!

[mocha200]

I will have to look some of that up! Thanks!

My bunnies LOVE Timothy Grass! We have a timothy field down the rode so they always got some every summer but now I won’t have to walk all the way down the driveway and down the road to get some! (haha I sound lazy!)

[Elrohwen]

Those jar planters look really cool! Not sure how practical they would be, but they are definitely beautiful.

One way to tell if it is cilantro is compare to parsley – the leaves will look similar. Then smell it – the smell is strong and different to parsley (which smells clean and grassy to me).

[mocha200]

 Elrohwen: Yes, I love them! I know what cilantro looks and smells like normally but this was supposed to be a different kind. My Mom said she looked at the sign and said the picture looked like the plant we got, so it must be but it looks so weird! I will post the picture bellow.

I just planted all of the plants into some pots I picked up this morning from a garage sale for .50 each. I didn’t have enough though so I used some pots my Grandma had laying around. She helped me plant all of them! She’s so nice This is how we did it:

1. Added rocks to the bottom for better drainage
2. Filled the pot with a dirt/peat moss mixture.
3. Dug a hole and poured some water in it
4. broke up the plants roots and planted them in the hole.

I added bunny poop to some of the plants but my bunnies haven’t made enough yet to put on all of them. Get a move on buns!

Here are some pictures:

Here are all the pots. There are 14. I have no idea where I am going to put them all.
 

This is Spinach. It is looking a little sad. I think it needs more water but I hate to put anymore on until evening because I feel the sun will just eat it all up.
 

Rosemary:
 

This is the CIlantro plant……

Basil. I was really worried about this one before I planted it as the leaves were wilted feeling but after a few hours of being in the pot with some bunny poop the leaves are already crisp again! (a few pieces of hay escaped into the pot)
 

Oregano (with some bunny litter… oops)
 

Kale:
 

Dill. It is really floppy and some of the stalks are breaking off. Is this normal?

One more picture below.

[mocha200]

 Italian Parsley. This one seems to be doing VERY well!

[Sarita]

Those look great – I think though I would keep the Rosemary outside – it’s generally a pretty hearty herb and it’s more woody and less delicate than something like basil or dill.

[mocha200]

Sarita: Thanks! I had decided to keep them all outside anyways now that I planted them in such HUGE pots!

[Author]

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