Organic, tasty and free!
As you can see on the ever-expanding safe food list in thefeeding section rabbits can eat a lot of different vegetables, herbs and fruits, and organic foods are always preferred, but they can be costly, so why not grow some plants that your bunnies can enjoy? At least then you will know for sure they are pesticide free! It doesn’t matter whether or not you have a big garden, even just a balcony or windowsill will do!
There are many, many plants you can grow which are loved by our long earred companions, as you can see below:
- Naturiums- These are very simple to grow, they can be planted in a deep pot or in the ground, just follow the instructions on the seed packet. Both rabbits and humans can even eat the leaves and flowers, but they aren’t to everyone’s taste.
- Dandelions – If you don’t have a supply of dandelions growing in your garden, or would prefer to keep them confined to pots, then all you need is to gather the seeds off a dandelion, and in a relatively deep pot, plant the seeds in compost about 1/3 of an inch deep and water well.
- Grass – You can cut using scissors, fresh grass from your lawn daily, so long as it is free from pesticides etc. Or grow it in seperate seed trays. Never feed mown grass, as it starts to decay quickly and has been known to cause bloat! It also has gone through the oily parts of the lawn mower, so thats a double no-no!
- Mint – Mint is easy to grow, buy the seeds, and plant them according to the instructions on the packet. Note that mint can take over your flower beds or herb garden, so a large planter is the best thing to grow it in. It is prone to attacks from aphids, so keep a close eye on the undersides of leaves for small green or black bugs and yellow spots on the top of the leaves.
- Basil – Plant according to the instructions in the packet, and you will soon find yourself with a long lasty supply of fresh basil, that bunnies can have occassionally in small amounts. Great for us humans when cooking dishes with tomato sauces or in salads. It may say to plant out, my advice, don’t! The slugs go mad for it, and when I did, the next morning all that was left was a stalk!!
- Parsley -Flat leafed variety tends to be the most popular, and is also easy to grow!
- Camomile -A fruity smelling herb, that is also very easy to grow and smells lovely. I grow it in 4-5 seperate small pots and give the rabbits one pot every few days, and the best bit is, it keeps growing back!!! So you can have one batch of seeds that last through the spring and summer season!
- Coriander – Coriander (cilantro) is also an easy, tasty herb that we can grow and rabbits seem to love the stuff! For humans it goes nicely in salads or in asian cooking.
- Strawberries -Strawberries are great, because we humans can enjoy the tasty fruits, and our rabbits can happily eat the leaves and the odd strawberry as a treat. Same goes with raspberries and blackberries!
- Wheatgrass -Can be found in health food shops, or in petshops sometimes advertised as ‘cat grass’. It is relatively easy to grow and is a great health boost to rabbits fed fresh. Can also be fed to cats, dogs and rodents and us! We take it juiced, and it is well known as a health food, pity the taste is so vile, but animals seem to gulp it down like its the best thing since sliced bread!
- Rosemary -A hardy herb that rabbits will happily munch on fresh and one slugs don’t destroy on us!
- Thyme – Again, a hardy herb like Rosemary that rabbits enjoy occassionally!