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Question for gardeners re bunnies and lawns

pumsalient

Young Bun
Hi
My bunny loves being out all day in his run and spends a good deal of his time chomping on the grass. Here's the dilemma. I want my lawn to be nice and green a) so Murphy can eat lush grass and b) so it looks nice. I never use any chemicals etc on the lawn and it is going very brown, is dead in some places and full of weeds. I am mowing it weekly and have tried to scarify it but can't seem to get it to look any better. I should just point out that it's a fair size lawn so it's not that Murphy is over grazing as I only put him on certain areas and there is no difference in the state of the lawn. I am assuming there are no products I can use which are bunny friendly. Is there any advice anyone can give me?
 
with the hot weather and dry conditions, its best to let your lawn grow abit, i don't cut ours when the weather is hot, it just burns it more, if you have to cut set the mower blades so they only cut abit off the grass

lawns will go brown in summers which are very hot and dry, but as soon as the autumn rains come, they soon green up again
 
Don't scarify it at this time of year (can't remember when the right time is, but we found a book on lawn care which explains all!) and as Minilop says, it the heat & dryness that is affecting all lawns at the moment.
 
Watched a gardening programme the other day

They recommended forking the lawn (or if you've a large lawn then hire one of those roller thingys with spikes on) that will aerate the lawn, then you scatter sharp sand over the top and sweep it over the lawn
Apparantly the sand fills the holes, making drainage better and giving healthier roots for your grass.

Afair bit of work but my mate did it a few weeks ago - worked a treat!
 
I've given in on this one. Around about April when the grass starts to grow I put the chemicals down (weed/moss killer) on half of the garden. Scarify it. Keep cutting it short. I keep the rabbits off it til it has been cut 4 times (about 6 weeks). They are restricted to the top half of my garden which is a pity but they are not out all the time as it rains a lot in those months anyway so the top half of the garden with no chemicals copes with it (I do have a big garden). it means that from June I have really yummy grass in the bottom part of the garden which is also shaded by trees so it grows better in the summer heat. I don't put the chemicals a foot round the edges so the wild flowers thrive there or on the edges of the daisy patch. It is still all a bit scruffy but I like it that way and never want a 'bowling green' but the alternative seems to be to let the weeds and moss really take over and that is no use for the buns.
 
Watched a gardening programme the other day

They recommended forking the lawn (or if you've a large lawn then hire one of those roller thingys with spikes on) that will aerate the lawn, then you scatter sharp sand over the top and sweep it over the lawn
Apparantly the sand fills the holes, making drainage better and giving healthier roots for your grass.

Afair bit of work but my mate did it a few weeks ago - worked a treat!

its best to do all that n early spring or autumn :wave:
 
Scarify, ariate it with a fork brush in some horticultural sand and then lots and lots of water and regular cutting.
 
Watched a gardening programme the other day

They recommended forking the lawn (or if you've a large lawn then hire one of those roller thingys with spikes on) that will aerate the lawn, then you scatter sharp sand over the top and sweep it over the lawn
Apparantly the sand fills the holes, making drainage better and giving healthier roots for your grass.

Afair bit of work but my mate did it a few weeks ago - worked a treat!


I saw that programme, not sure it was sharp sand was it? I thought it was a proper horticultural sand its much finer grained.
 
Thank you for all your replies, that's really helpful. Does anyone water their lawn on a daily basis and does this make a difference?

I like the sound of aerating with a fork and applying sand - is it ok to do this now or do I wait until the Autumn?
 
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