Growing herbs/veggies!!

[LizzyBunny]

Soo I want to get into this gardening business, why? For my bunny of course! (Slave right here). I live in Vancouver, we have -3 winters and 25 degree summers (celcius) . It rains tons in spring and fall. I don’t know if I should buy seeds and plant by seeds ooorrr buying the plants in pots and replanting them. I have a large “raised garden bed”. Just looking for some tips! Thanks

[Isabelle]

I’ve never even been able to grow a flower in a pot indoors, so for a first timer I would suggest getting yourself some plants already started, some gardening books from the library, and see if your local garden store has any tips for first time growers. Check out some of the easier bunny-yummy stuff to get going on, it might help you succeed (hopefully better than me!).

[Queensbun]

I agree – you’d probably be better off transplanting starter plants. And I would imagine that you’d need some special lights for light as well as for warmth. My sister gifted me with an Aerogarden several years ago. It’s a complete self contained setup that comes with its own lightbulbs and seeds. It doesn’t produce a lot but it’s always nice to be able to harvest my own herbs during the winter months.

[Elrohwen]

I have some herbs that I keep inside, but can be moved outside in nicer weather – one large window box, plus a few smaller pots. I’ve found that they really haven’t grown much since November, despite being in a very sunny part of the house, so I think they need warmer and sunnier conditions. I can’t wait until it warms up and I can put them back outside.

Even with the amount I’m growing, I haven’t been able to use any of it to feed the rabbits. I’ll grab a few basil leaves for cooking and that pretty much uses up all of my little plants until the leaves grow back. My parsley is only about 4″ tall, so I’ll break off pieces and feed them as treats, but I would go through the whole window box in one meal if I actually used it for food. I’m kind of disappointed because I had hoped to get more out of it, but with how much they eat I’d need a huge bed of parsley that grew extremely fast.

When we get a house this year we plan to start a garden for ourselves as well as the rabbits. I’ll let you guys know how it goes! We’re planning on raised beds with a fence around it – DH wants to see if we can even let the buns out in the fenced garden to run around, which I think is a good idea (as long as the things we grow are all safe for them to eat). I’m really excited for it!

[HippityHopMom]

Elrohwen … from what my brother has told me …. our garden plants do not do well during winter because of the shorter daylight hours.     So, even though you have your plants in a sunny window …. they are not growing well because it gets dark so early now.     I think if we want to grow better plants in the winter indoors …… we will have to use grow lights.     I have not tried this yet myself … but I hope to one day.    I am in north Georgia and my brother was growing Cilantra and Brussel Sprouts outdoors in his garden …. these are cool weather crops … he grows these in the fall.   Well, this year, his plants grew all the way till Christmas.   We got snow on Christmas and then the plants wilted … so no  more free greens from my brother for my buns.   My brother sent me the Brussel Sprout leaves for my rabbits before the snow got the plants…. and some Cilantra too.       Have you tried growing Cilantra indoors ?    I am thinking …with it being a cool season crop …. it might grow ok indoors during the winter.  

 

[Elrohwen]

Posted By HippityHopMom on 01/13/2011 07:25 PM

Elrohwen … from what my brother has told me …. our garden plants do not do well during winter because of the shorter daylight hours.     So, even though you have your plants in a sunny window …. they are not growing well because it gets dark so early now.     I think if we want to grow better plants in the winter indoors …… we will have to use grow lights.     I have not tried this yet myself … but I hope to one day.    I am in north Georgia and my brother was growing Cilantra and Brussel Sprouts outdoors in his garden …. these are cool weather crops … he grows these in the fall.   Well, this year, his plants grew all the way till Christmas.   We got snow on Christmas and then the plants wilted … so no  more free greens from my brother for my buns.   My brother sent me the Brussel Sprout leaves for my rabbits before the snow got the plants…. and some Cilantra too.       Have you tried growing Cilantra indoors ?    I am thinking …with it being a cool season crop …. it might grow ok indoors during the winter.  

 

Yep, that’s exactly what I expected. They are still green and happy, but just not growing anymore. I don’t want to go to the hassle of a grow light for now, but I’m very excited for more sun so they’ll get big again!

Very cool about being able to grow things almost year round! I wish we had that kind of climate. I’ll have to pass on the cilantro though - for whatever reason I can’t stand the smell of the stuff so I don’t like having it in my house. Haha. The bunnies aren’t wild about it either.

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