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Gardening for the Bunnies Thread

helgalush

Wise Old Thumper
I've grown radishes for the first time this year and harvested the first bunch today. The bunnies have had their first radish leaves (half a leaf each) and a teeny tiny piece of the radish root. They loved it!

I'm really pleased with them & they were really easy to grow. We had the rest of the radishes with dinner tonight and have kept the spare leaves for the buns for the rest of the week.

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I've also got regular kitchen herbs, lavender and borage coming through, hoping there will be more coming through for the buns over the summer.

I cant remember if there is a gardening for bunnies thread on here. Thought it might be nice if others wanted to share what you are growing for your buns (and yourselves). :wave:
 
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Wow, those look lovely! I really need to try growing things...

I'm very new to it, but I was really surprised how easy radishes were to grow, I just put some seeds in and a few days later they were sprouting up everywhere. I'd forgotten how nice radishes are to eat! :)

I grew some stuff last year but it was mainly trial and error to see what worked and not much bunny-friendly stuff so this year its mostly stuff that we and they can share :)
 
Oh poo I didn't realise they could have radish leaves. Mind you mine were all peppered with tiny holes from something so I probably wouldn't have given them them anyway. I'm very bad at successional sowing and have a lean patch now. I have some more coming up but it'll be a few weeks before they are ready for eating. :( radishes are so quick though :thumb: at the moment we have a huge glut of lettuces :lol::oops:

The only things I'm growing specifically for the bunnies are my herb plants, got loads of those but they aren't quite big enough yet to take leaves off.
 
I didn't realise they could eat radishes either! Last year I made the mistake of growing a whole load of radishes at the same time! two different types and when they came up I had a tonne in one go and ended up composting them. This year I'm juts going to sow a few at a time!

So far, I'm growing beans (runner and dwarf/french) sweet peas, courgettes and pumpkins/squashes (though very few germinated) two different types of mixed salad (speedy mix and niche mix - which don't actually have any lettuce in it!). Can rabbits eat beans???

I've killed my strawberries by suffocating them in straw! Raspberries and blueberries, plum, pear and apple doing great!

Non-rabbit: lots of tomatoes and potatoes!

last year I tried the "foot" gardening system - 3 lots of 3ftX3ft raised bed, with copper tape stapled around the outside to stop snails, and enviro mesh to stop carrot fly/butterflies. each raised bed divided into 9 squares with a different crop in each square. I had mixed results - carrots, parsnips, radishes, beetroot and Kohl rabbi grew well - not much luck with brassicas or sweetcorn.
 
I'm trying to grow some nasturtiums but the bunnies keep finding where I've hid the pot. :roll::lol: It was up on a sunbed for about a week and then Bubbles saw and started nibbling away. :roll:

Apart from that, nothing of much excitement - various small pots with oat grass, timothy grass, plantain, dandelions and one with a selection of rabbit safe seeds.
 
Schuette, I'm bad at successional sowing too and am really behind with everything I wanted to sow and grow.

Thats why I was really chuffed the radishes worked so well. I have a few more on the go.

Fruitandnutcake, I think the radish tops are ok, I'm not so sure about the root, but thats ok as that was for me and my OH (sorry buns!!) :lol: But I wouldnt feed too many as they are high in calcium I think, but the buns wolfed down the little bits they got yesterday. I've put the rest in the fridge for the next few days so I hope they keep ok :)

I'm not too sure about beans, this is a good list for starters and green beans seem to be on there, but not sure about other types or leaves, sorry: http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/going_green_oct_06.pdf

Sounds like you are growing loads, I want to try the square foot gardening too. :)

KarenM, hope you can get your Nasturtiums to survive the bunny nibbles!! Oh dear!! :lol: Hope all the grass seeds come up good too, I am trying to grow some plantain (even though I have loads in the lawn), still waiting for my seeds to germinate though so we'll see what happens.
 
None of mine will eat radishes I have tried adding them to their feed's on several occasions but they are always left in the dish :(
 
I am trying to grow some plantain (even though I have loads in the lawn), still waiting for my seeds to germinate though so we'll see what happens.

:lol::lol::lol: Funny you should say that, but my lawn is also full of the stuff so I haven't a clue why I'm trying to grow more. :roll:

From my own experience it seems to take quite a while to germinate - much longer than all the other seeds I'd planted & is growing quite slowly too. I should take a photo of the dandelions and plantain for comparison as they were planted at the same time.

I threw a pot full of plantain seeds away last year thinking it hadn't worked, but with hindsight I probably just didn't give it long enough :oops:
 
I have a few things this year. I planted mixed salad leaves but we are eating them! They are so fresh and its lovely picking a few leaves to put in a sandwich or to have with tea. :oops::oops:

I have raspberries, blueberries and strawbs to give the the leaves, lavender, pansies, calendula, coriander, sage, and rosemary as well. I also have some lavender seeds to try as well. I am loving having so much in the garden although a lot still has to do a fair bit of growing!
 
:lol::lol::lol: Funny you should say that, but my lawn is also full of the stuff so I haven't a clue why I'm trying to grow more. :roll:

From my own experience it seems to take quite a while to germinate - much longer than all the other seeds I'd planted & is growing quite slowly too. I should take a photo of the dandelions and plantain for comparison as they were planted at the same time.

I threw a pot full of plantain seeds away last year thinking it hadn't worked, but with hindsight I probably just didn't give it long enough :oops:

Oh thats good to know, I wont throw them away yet then! :) I have some dandelion seeds to try too, havent done them yet though.

We have loads of dandelions growing through the slabs in our patio but Kenco will just feast on them and give himself a tummy upset (he shouldnt have many cos he is a kidney bun). so I've had to dig all those up...so it seems really ironic that I have to grow some in pots instead! :lol::lol::oops:
 
I have a few things this year. I planted mixed salad leaves but we are eating them! They are so fresh and its lovely picking a few leaves to put in a sandwich or to have with tea. :oops::oops:

I have raspberries, blueberries and strawbs to give the the leaves, lavender, pansies, calendula, coriander, sage, and rosemary as well. I also have some lavender seeds to try as well. I am loving having so much in the garden although a lot still has to do a fair bit of growing!

Sounds great, lovely fresh lettuce in sandwiches, you cant beat stuff straight from the garden.

I've got some pansies that have just germinated, but my calendulas didnt germinate, they were from an old packet so I am hoping I can sow some more. :)

Wish I had some fruit trees. :)
 
We have loads of dandelions growing through the slabs in our patio but Kenco will just feast on them and give himself a tummy upset (he shouldnt have many cos he is a kidney bun). so I've had to dig all those up...so it seems really ironic that I have to grow some in pots instead! :lol::lol::oops:

:lol::lol: We must seem weird to non-rabbit people.

It's the same with grass - hubby keeps asking why I've planted pots of it when we've got a garden full of the stuff. Doesn't he know it tastes different... duh! :lol::lol:
 
:lol::lol: We must seem weird to non-rabbit people.

It's the same with grass - hubby keeps asking why I've planted pots of it when we've got a garden full of the stuff. Doesn't he know it tastes different... duh! :lol::lol:

Yeah we probably do! :lol: I have trays of lawn grass growing for the buns, a friend came round recently and said "why are you growing grass in small trays"? Bearing in mind we were stood by the lawn at the time....I couldnt really explain it! :oops::lol:
 
Last year I had success with everything I put in except for the purple sprouting broccoli and the garlic. This year both are doing a lot better but my sweetcorn have been flattened by the wind, we have more of that to put in though.

Obviously none of those are any good for the bunnies :oops: I have a tray of weed seeds that I put in the runs when they are out. But my other attempts at growing herbs and weeds from seed looked very ropey and I ended up binning them.
 
I didn't know bunnyies could have radisehs either! They are so easy to grow, it's a great one to try.
We are lucky cos we have a big hawthorn hedge on our boundary so the buns get alot of that in spring but the refuse to eat it come summer.
We're growing beetroot (can they have that?) cabbage and brocolli too, and we also have a couple of small apple trees which get the odd leave picked off in aid of bunny happiness!
I also read they can have parsnip too but none of my lot will touch them at all :?
 
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