Growing Your Own Greens?

Crush is approx. 5-7 lbs of weight(this is a rough estimate, but I'll find out for sure at his next vet check up, he's a fairly big boy though), and gets unlimited Timothy Hay, and approx. 1/4 - 1/2 cup of Timothy Hay pellets per day, although I do find if I adjust the portion into smaller sizes every few days, it encourages him to eat his hay more. He also gets the occasional handful of fresh greens(usually romaine and some herbs).

Unfortunately, I won't keep Cilantro in my house, despite how much he loves it because my dog has epilepsy and the strong smell of Cilantro triggers my dogs seizures.

That said... I find Crush LOVES his greens, LOVES the occasional cheerio or two, LOVES banana's and strawberries(his two favorite fruits) and loves herbs as well. Anything fresh, he LOVES.

I was reading another topic on here which gave some great ideas as to what everyone feeds their rabbits.

However... How many people grow their own greens, weeds, herbs, etc for their rabbits? And if you do, what do you grow?

I've been considering growing my own fresh grass(as my yard has none until we redo the yard and I don't trust grass just anywhere in this city), dandelions(same reason as the grass), and some herbs. Thoughts?

I also have a beautiful white lilac tree in my yard, and am wondering what all is safe off the tree to give to Crush? I've heard the flowers are, but are the flowers, twigs/branches and leaves all safe or no? Is this just something I should avoid?

I'm hoping that once we get our lawn redone(we have to aerate it, put down fresh compost/top soil to give the soil nutrients, then lay down some grass because our lawn is basically bare), I can take Crush in our yard. It's fenced in, and I have a dog run with a roof too. NO HE WOULD NOT BE LEFT UNSUPERVISED, EVER, WHILE OUTSIDE. This would ONLY be done under close supervision and when the ground has grass.

Anyway... Hoping for some ideas or thoughts on what I can grow in my house for my bun. I'd love to supplement with fresh greens. He loves them and has no health problems and has never has a GI problem from his diet while I've had him. I DO keep a close eye on him too though, when I add anything he's never tried just to be sure.

I like to grow greens for my Ash. This last winter I grew him some wheat grass. And it was fun and easy to grow. Here was a post of mine from another thread.

"Yeah, I think that wheat grass is pretty good for them. It is easy to grow indoors, but keep in mind that you might need pretty big pot depending on how much you want to grow. What I did was get a large pot and then I got a bag of soil I think it might have been potting soil, I'm not sure. Anyway I filled up the pot until the soil reached an inch below the rim and I took some wheat seeds and I just poured them over the soil and used my hands to spread them over the soil. You don't need to bury them under the soil. And than I sprayed the seeds with water. I sprayed them every day until they sprouted (I did keep watering them after they sprouted) and than they grew until they were a couple inches tall and then I clipped them and put them in the fridge and fed some to Ash every day. I think that the wheat grass will even grow a second time after you clip the first batch. That's what happened with me anyway. It grew a second time so I watered the second batch every day and it grew pretty well. Oh and if you do decide to grow wheat grass I advise you soak the seeds in a bowl of water overnight the night before you plant them, it helps them sprout. Oh and the temperature of the water doesn't matter, I just used cold water from the sink."

And I think they like Mint. I've never grown it but I've read that its easy to grow.

And than there's Parsley, I've never grown that either but I am going to this year.

You might be able to even grow broccoli. Here is an article that tells you how to plant that:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/How-To-Grow-Broccoli.aspx#axzz2UXakVRt3

Here is a good article on growing a garden for your pet bunny: http://www.myhouserabbit.com/tip_garden.php

And here is a thread that might help: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f40/planning-garden-75005/

Good Luck! I've always enjoyed growing things for my Ash. And good news! I just planted my giant watermelon seeds today!

Grass is a great idea - the best even, and yet often over looked. I cut Scamp a bowl a day from our lawn

There are so many things you can grow - watch the dandelions don't set seeds or you'll get a lot of them. Herbs are a good idea too. I like strawberries as the leaves are tough and bunny safe, the flowers are pretty, and the strawberries are tasty. They are very easy to grow too.

Why not set up some garden beds in your yard? You can grow fresh stuff like various greens and herbs, and you can grow stuff you can freeze like broccoli.

I'm lucky, I live out in the boonies where my untreated yard is full of plantain, dandelion and grass, so I pick a big handful every day during the summer for my rabbits.

We are considering making a garden in the front yard, but we'd have to find a way to fence it in so the dogs couldn't get into it at all. I do, however, have a section that could easily be turned over for vegetables and herbs. We could use it and feed to our rabbit as well. The idea of fresh vegetables and herbs really appeals to me and our garden gets a LOT of sunlight all day from about eleven am until sundown. I'd love to do fruits as well, but I'm not sure how well they'd grow with how unpredictable our weather can be.

Thanks for the input and the links!

I've got lots of stuff growing. I planted some veges and what the snails haven't eaten the bunnies can have (broccoli, silverbeet, endive that I put in for my budgies). I've also got parsley, including some self-sown italian, basil, capsicum, sage, oregano, mint, all the normal sort of herbs that people grow. They love the rosemary and I've got huge bushes of that. Also, just weeds/grass. It could be wheat grass from previous mulch, I don't know. It's green and they tell me it's tasty by the way they gobble it.

As for keeping your dogs out, are they huge? I put in raised garden beds for my veges and my herbs are in big pots. My dogs aren't destructive and they are only little, but I don't want dog wee on my stuff. Big dogs could perhaps jump up there, but they are effective for keeping little dogs off.

A chicken wire fence might be sufficient. It's not strong but it's difficult to jump over because it's just chicken wire (as opposed to wood which would have "perch" at the top).

I'm growing parsley, dill, and basil so far!! going to plant some more stuff soon! it'll be great just picking fresh herbs and veggies!!! Hopefully next year I'll put a big garden in and have an area for them to graze a little!!!

Both dogs are small, 30 lbs and 25 lbs, but unfortunately, my Beagle can easily clear four feet from a stand still without touching the top of a fence or gate. My Border Collie mix isn't brave enough to tempt it though. I might see if my fiance can build some type of barrier so my Beagle can't lift his leg on the garden, haha..

I wonder if your beagle would want to jump up there, though. Is he fond of veges? Unless he was attracted to want to munch on things, he might not have any motivation to get up on raised beds. On ground level, they don't know what's important or not, they just want to wee and sniff everywhere, but they'd have to have a reason to include a raised vege bed in their travels. I can imagine why he'd leap a gate if he wanted to follow somebody, but if he doesn't have any yummy smells or anything to make him want to get up there, he might just not be interested. If he was, you could always put some stakes and mesh around it as well.

I planted some herbs from the seeds and they all sprouted but I start to doubt if this idea is worth it. Growing things is not easy. It gets extremely windy where I live, so I constantly have to monitor direction of the wind to move containers with herbs and veggies. I also growing some cabbage (not for the rabbits) that is getting destroyed by cabbage worm. It takes so much attention (right amount of sun/water/ not too windy/insects) for tiny amount of greens that it makes it much cheaper and easier to go and buy everything. parsley is 86c. silantro is 77c a bunch.

You can always try to grow herbs and see how well it goes.