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Tag Archives: bunny garden

Springtime and Bunnies

Spring has sprung here in Connecticut! After a frosty March, April has finally brought some warmer temperatures to the area.  This means more time outdoors!

Have you started a bunny garden yet? If not, now’s the perfect time to get some veggies growing! So far, we’ve planted a couple different types of romaine and greenleaf lettuces, bok choy, and Paris market carrots. I also have a plan to plant some oregano and some mint in a raised bed and let them battle it out.  If you’re new to gardening, read our tips to starting your own bunny garden. It’s not too difficult to grow a few basics for your rabbits – especially if you include dandelions as one of your crops!

Springtime also means more wild baby bunny sightings! Read our article about what to do if you find an orphaned baby bunny in your yard.

wild baby rabbits

Hoppy Spring!

Bunny Gardening Started Early at MHR

lettuce

Here at My House Rabbit headquarters in New London, CT, the unseasonably warm weather has resulted in some fresh treats for Coco and Cosette. (It was 70 degrees today!)

Since we also had a very mild winter, some of the lettuce that I started last fall survived through the winter months and then flourished once I covered the bed with some garden fabric.  So for the past few days the rabbits have indulged in freshly grown romaine, carrots, and dandelions (ok, so actually I just plucked those from our yard… but we also have a pot of intentionally-grown dandelions that are currently thriving).  I’m going to experiment more with extending the growing season next year by using a cold frame and making more use of my garden fabric on the raised beds.

Anyone else harvesting veggies for their bunnies now?

Post-Irene at My House Rabbit

Fallen tree from Hurricane Irene

Fallen tree from Hurricane Irene

Here in coastal Connecticut, Hurricane Irene wreaked a fair amount of havoc, damaging trees and property, causing flooding, and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power (including us).

Slanted apple tree after Hurricane Irene

We found our apple trees at 45 degree angles.

Gardens after Hurricane Irene

We had staked everything down on our raised beds and moved most of our potted plants to the basement.

But through all that, Coco and Cosette were happily oblivious to the storm.  (Apparently bunnies aren’t that bothered when they don’t have lights or internet access.)  Their veggies stayed cold enough in the fridge and there were still cardboard castles to renovate.

Rabbits grooming

Here they are today, two days after the storm, still happily oblivious.

Rabbit grooming

Yesterday, while we were still without power, we spent a very pleasant, sunny day cleaning up the yard and gardens. It was the perfect opportunity to plant some fall crops as well! We planted bok choy, romaine lettuce, and spinach.

Tree staked after Hurricane Irene

We staked our apple trees so they are now growing upright again.

Garden cleaned up after Hurricane Irene

We cleaned up our gardens, brought the potted plants back out, and planted new fall crops.

For those of you also affected by the hurricane, how are you and your bunnies faring now?

Bunny Garden 2011

Here are some photos of our bunny garden this year. So far we’ve harvested for Coco and Cosette some bok choy, oregano, lettuce, mint, cilantro, strawberries, and a teeny tiny carrot that I pulled out by accident while weeding.

Bunny Garden

In this bunny garden, we’re growing lettuce, cilantro, oregano (which is trying to take over the entire garden), and basil.

Romaine lettuce

Closeup of the romaine.

Bunny Garden

In this (mostly) bunny garden, we’re growing carrots, Swiss chard, basil, and a couple non-bunny items.  We harvested bok choy from the corners earlier in the spring.  In the background, you can see our pots of mint.

Do you have a bunny garden this year? If so, what are you growing for your rabbits?

New Articles

We’ve recently added a couple new articles to our collection.

The first one describes the potentially deadly condition, GI stasis, and discusses causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention.  If you’re a bunny owner and unfamiliar with this condition, it’s an important read.

Veterinarian holding a bunnyGI Stasis in Rabbits: A Deadly Condition

One very serious, fairly common health issue pet rabbits face is gastrointestinal stasis. GI (or gut) stasis is a potentially deadly condition in which the digestive system slows down or stops completely. [Read more]

The second article serves as a beginner’s guide to growing your rabbit’s food yourself. It will depend where in the world you are if the timing is right to start gardening – for me in New England, the gardening season will probably wind down in a month or so.  But, for those who are new to gardening who want to give it a try, the article will provide an introduction, giving examples of vegetables that are fairly easy to grow.  And when the time is right, you will be able to get started on your very own bunny garden.

Bunny jumping from cardboard castleBunny Gardening for Beginners

One of the great things about owning a pet rabbit is that you can grow a lot of their food yourself in a backyard garden. In fact, you don’t have to be a master gardener or own a huge plot of land to grow a few of your bunny’s favorites. [Read more]

Bunny Garden Update

We decided to build another 4×4 raised bed devoted just to lettuces and other bunny greens. They really do consume a lot.  So yesterday I planted three different kinds of green leaf lettuce, more cilantro, and some basil plants.

In the fall, we’ll do another round of romaine lettuce, plus we’re going to try growing some bok choy as well.

bunny garden
In our new raised bed, we planted three different kinds of looseleaf lettuce, basil, and cilantro. In the background, we have a pot of mint, more lettuce, and carrots growing in the raised beds behind.

Cilantro
The cilantro I planted a few weeks ago in one of our other beds germinated.  So Cosette will be happy in a little while when it’s big enough to eat.

Bunny Garden

We’ve expanded upon our experiment from last year to grow some of Coco and Cosette’s food.  This season, we have four raised beds of fruits and veggies – both for the bunnies and ourselves.

Romaine lettuce

For the bunnies, we have growing: Lettuce (pictured above), carrots, basil, broccoli leaves, dandelions, and apples (our trees have fruit this year!).

I might try growing cilantro next spring because it’s Cos’s favorite, but I’ve heard it can be difficult to grow.

***

UPDATE: Bought some cilantro seeds.  I read that I still had time to plant them. So we’ll see how that goes.  Also bought a mint plant that we’ll keep in a separate pot because apparently they spread quickly.

Audrey on Tour: Visiting My House Rabbit in New London, CT

Audrey Rabbit is a house rabbit living in North London. Her mom, Carol Muskoron, is an Associate Editor at AllAboutYou.com.

When Carol began blogging about Audrey, the cashmere lop quickly became a cyber celebrity.

You can read all about Audrey’s adventures on All About You or follow her on Twitter.

Audrey wanted to learn about other parts of the world, so she sent her clone out to New London, CT in the US to visit her friends at My House Rabbit.

Come see what they got up to!


Audrey meets Cosette and Coco.


Coco, Audrey, and Cosette get close.


Audrey checks out our bunny garden.


Audrey makes a stop at the statue of John Winthrop the Younger. Winthrop founded New London in 1646 and later went on to become the governor of Connecticut.


Another view of Audrey with Governor Winthrop’s statue. John Winthrop the Younger continued the tradition of his father, who was the founding governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony.


New London’s City Hall on State Street.


A full view of City Hall.


Audrey examines Wyland’s whale mural, The Great Sperm Whales, on Eugene O’Neill Drive. Wyland has created a hundred whale murals all over the world.


Audrey poses with the statue of Eugene O’Neill as a boy. O’Neill, who spent his summers growing up in New London, used to sit by the Thames River and sketch the ships. O’Neill is the only American playwright to win a Nobel prize for literature.


Audrey takes in the view at the State Pier.


Audrey at the Customs House Maritime Museum on Bank Street. The museum focuses on New London’s rich history as a whaling and shipping port.


Audrey at the gate of the Hygienic Art Park.


Audrey takes a seat on Bank Street.


Audrey visits the New London Superior Court.


Audrey’s last stop was the Nathan Hale statue in Williams Park. After Nathan Hale graduated from Yale, he was a school teacher in New London. He was way ahead of his time by teaching girls in 1773.

Hope you enjoyed Audrey’s tour of New London, CT!

Next stop: Bow, Washington to visit our friends at the House of Rabbits!

Bunny Garden Attempt: Phase 3 – Sprouts

The Bunny Garden is coming along. We have little lettuces! Also, we must have had either squash or pumpkin seeds in the compost because we have some other sort of plant flourishing as well. The tomato plants have seen better days, but they’d probably be completely dead if they hadn’t been covered by their little greenhouse cylinders. (Thanks for that tip, Rabbits’ Guy!) We’ll put the tomato plants outside later in the season next year. We’re also growing several strawberry plants.

Bunny garden

Romaine lettuce sprout