Your task : Grow rabbit treats in a small area

[HOWsMom]

If you had only 1 medium sized rabbit, and you were allowed a single small area to plant in (a 3'x18" counter-height raised bed), what would you plant that could be used as treats for your rabbit ?

We live in a townhouse, and the condo board has a full restriction on in-ground planting of anything that could possibly construed as food (plus our backyard is small, and we have 2 dogs!).

I made a few counter-height raised beds this year, but am planning on handing them over to the kids next year anyhow. I don't think they are each even a full 3'x18" but I can't recall exactly the dimensions. They are about 6" deep at most.

What could Bug4H grow that would be great for George, is easy to grow in our short-ish growing season.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Rosemary would be excellent- especially the trailing kind because it would weep over the sides of the box which would be very pretty.

Then again, most people consider that to be a groundcover, and have no idea it is edible, so you could plant that in ground. Mine overwinters fine, but we only rarely get temps in the low teens.

Other options:

Red or green leaf lettuce
Carrots (tops are edible as well)
Beets (roots and leaves)
Radish (roots and leaves)
Parsley
Basil
Dill
Oregano
Mustard (considered "gassy" because it is a brassica, but my rabbits do fine eating the wild type)
Strawberries
Yarrow

In ground plants:

Willow tree
Roses
Apple and pear trees (if not against the rules!)
Sunflowers

 

[MaggieJ]

Rosemary is lovely but it is not winter-hardy in our Zone 5 . . . and I have never fed it to rabbits.

Not much will survive the winter in a planter just 6 inches deep, so look at at annuals - vegetables and weeds.

Basil is a good, fast-growing annual herb. If you gather seeds of plantain (the lawn weed) as soon as they ripen, they will be excellent as rabbit treats next season and are also a useful remedy for diarrhea. One of the safest plants for rabbits that there is. And they have shallow roots. Some weeds - dandelion, chicory etc. - have tap roots and need deeper soil to prosper.

Leaf lettuces, the leaves of radishes (people get the root, the rabbits the leaves.) and other compact rabbit-safe veggies are also good ideas. Baby carrots can be fed, both root and leaves.

Take a look at the Safe Plants list. You want fast-growing, annual plants that will give you a quick crop from seed.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Rosemary is lovely but it is not winter-hardy in our Zone 5

That's a pity. My rabbits love it, and the mature plants have a nice woody stem that they eat as well.

 

[MaggieJ]

I have a rosemary plant that is about eight years old. It goes out in a container in summer and comes back in around the time of the first light frosts. I also have a bay tree (Laurus nobilus) that is even older. I love it for cooking - the fresh leaves have a much more delicate flavour than the dried ones and they don't splinter. No use for rabbits, I'm afraid, but there are ways to continue to grow tender perennials if you have a nice south window for winter.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Jerusalem artichoke/ 'sunchoke'? they are a relative of sunflowers except they grow up and have flowers like sunflowers and they grow lots of tubers. store and use just like potatoes or just dig em up when ya need em. I am seeing a lot on these for animal feed and small tone of people eating them, but a lot of back and forth on whether they actually taste good lol. the tubers and greens are edible.

you could probably get away with growing sunflowers and the sunchokes as flowering and be within your codes and then at the end of the year just dig up a harvest of the tubers. if anyone asks say that the plants spread by the tubers (which is true) and you are spreading them or thinning them etc. which is all true. you just also feed it to the rabbit afterwards haha.

the sunflowers do good and ged plenty of seed from em. and there are many good seed varieties so you can have several types and make it look more 'flower garden-y'.

x2 on the leaf lettuce. there are lots of varieties too and I have seen some pictures of mixed lettuce beds that were super pretty! light green leaves, dark green leaves, dark purple leaves, dark red leaves, light green leaves splattered with deep red,.. and all different shape leaves.
arugala, orach, corn salad, dandelion, deer tongue,... Rareseed.com is one of my favorites

 

[Zass]

Hmm, maybe smaller plants that can reseed like calandula, an ornamental variety of purslane, or italian flat leaf parsley? Herbs like mint and lemon balm are attractive, very hardy and will spread from runners.
None of those look too much like "food plants" to a casual observer.


Most of the undesirable plants growing in the beds are probably top notch rabbit treats too. If you can ID a weed, it's edibility can be researched online.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i just found this which is nice. http://whitewingrabbitry.weebly.com/med ... bbits.html

and a lot of times when trying to ID a plant start with looking up by the common name you know it as. if that brings up anything decent you can usually find a wiki page on it and if looking up that latin name gives you pics different than what you see in front of you then try looking around the web page for close varieties of that plant or close cousins etc.

 

[Easy Ears]

Anyone feed their buns Kale on occasion? :?

 

[HOWsMom]

This is what the planters looks like - raised up off the ground.


This year, I've got peppers, peas, cucumber, lettuce, radish (that did NOT work), broccoli (didn't work either), and carrots.
I've also got tomatoes, onions, basil, catnip, strawberry (no berries yet ), sunflowers and marigolds in various pots.

Our yard faces west (as does every window in our house) and is 20'x25' total.
On the other side of the yard there is a lilac tree, and my bird feeder and bird bath.

It's tiny, but it's ours

 

[Dood]

You should try and have all your planters on the north fence so they will get the most sun from the south and to maximize the growing season

Sweet potato vine do great in planters and can trail over the edge to maximize the use of the soil (see picture) I frequently trim off bits for my house bunnies and the plant just keeps growing and you can dig out the tubers in the fall They can also be planted in hanging baskets

I love the look of portulaca, also a good one to over hang the edge, and the leaves and flowers are edible - try them in a stir fry - delicious

You can also plant "weeds" like dandelion, sow thistle and clovers if you're having trouble with veggies

Oops - forgot the picture :x

 

[MamaSheepdog]

How about Nasturtiums? They are edible too. The trailing type would look lovely.

 

[Bug4H]

what are nasturtiums?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

They come in all kinds of colors and sizes, as well as bushy and trailing types.

The leaves are peppery tasting.

 

[LPH_NY]

My vote goes to Calendula and Nasturtiums. Very few people realize they *can* be food... they are gorgeous flowers and very ornamental. I grow them as companions in my veggie beds to draw pollinators (and calendula has some pest deterring properties.) Calendula is extremely prolific! If you planted just 6-8 seeds in one of your planters in early spring, then by this time (mid-summer) they will have your whole planter filled with gorgeous blooms. As long as you cut off the spent blooms regularly, they just keep blooming and blooming. The buns love them! Collect seeds from just one or two flowers and you'll have seeds to use the following year and lots to share. Nasturtiums are a little more tender as they start, but once they are established, they also get nice and full. The flowers are deliciously spicy (my daughter and I eat them frequently!) The ones I have are variegated on the leaves, so they look ornamental even when there are no blooms.

Neither of those will survive the winter, but both are easy keepers, super pretty, and perfect for a short season.

Sage will survive the winter, as well as some types of lavender. Both of those look really lovely and have attractive, fragrant little flowers. Of course, they have to be fed in moderation, depending on the bunny, but sage is great in scrambled eggs! Anything in the mint family that you like to nibble or use in the kitchen should do fine in a planter.

Dwarf sunflowers? Violets? I feed the wild violets to my bunnies. Those are small, but cultivated violets can be much bigger and showier. I love the heart-shaped leaves and the flowers are nice in a salad. Bachelor's Buttons (cornflower) are attractive, especially in bloom, and they can naturalize easily.