Thinking about a small garden

[blwinteler]

I live in an apartment in Henderson, NV (suburb of Vegas). I have a small patio. I am thinking it might be nice (and possibly more cost effective) to plant some veggies for my bunnies (and me). Is that even possible with temperatures getting as high as 120 degrees outside in the summer and a ton of wind in the few cooler months we get? How would I start? What could I plant that would survive?

Thanks!

 

[KaitlynG]

Hi blwinteler,

I live in New England so I do not know much about the weather, but we have a small garden for our bunnies and squirrel.
We grow chocolate mint, spearmint and orange mint. (favorites) lettuce, collard greens, and kale.

We also grow corn, tomatoes and green beans which we share with them.

You would probably do good with some patio tomatoes, mint and collard greens. Kale is also very versatile.

 

[Blue eyes]

We're outside of Phoenix so share those hot summers. As soon as Spring comes, I plant basil, mint, parsley, romaine. The basil does wonderful in our blazing summers. I've started by seed and also used starter plants.
I actually have more basil than I can use.
My 2 rabbits get about 4 cups-worth every day.
I haven't tried a winter crop of anything yet. During winter I just buy from the store.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

You can plant a lot of herbs in flats--just need to keep them hydrated and out of the noonday sun so they don't get fried. There's a guy with a garden care column in the paper--I'll have to send him an E and see what he says. Or another good source is your local nursery as they usually have a couple people that can give good advice. We grow a lot in pots inside too.

 

[blwinteler]

I had basil growing, just for my use, a long time ago. It got out of hand! I kept having to put it in bigger pots. How do I keep it under control? Of course, with it getting used a lot more for the bunnies, it might not be an issue. It definitely grew here just fine. Will romaine grow in a patio garden? Or does it need more space to grow well?

 

[PaGal]

To keep herbs under control you just have to cut them back if you are not using enough of it to keep it from getting out of control. We don't get as high as 120 here but we do go above 100. We haven't had an issue with our herbs in the garden due to the heat so if you can have them in the shade for the hottest part of the day and keep them hydrated then they should do well. Most herbs like well draining soil.

We grow different basils, flat and curly parsley, oregano, thyme, mint and rosemary. Keep in mind though that mint is known to take over in gardens. If you want to grow it on a patio then maybe plant it in a pot by itself.

 

[BunnyL0ve]

I attempted to grow mint, basil and lettuce once..I'm certain my thumb isn't green..the mint grew for a bit then died. Its super hot and humid here and the bugs don't make it any easier. Good luck!

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Rabbit Forum mobile app

 

[missyscove]

My best luck so far has been the carrots I planted in a window box. I didn't actually care about the carrots, although they turned out alright, but was after the tops for the buns and they loved them!

 

[DogCatMom]

I suggest looking into Sunset's book on Container Gardening. The Sunset climate-zone system is well worth learning about, esp. in the western states and provinces of North America, where the USDA "Hardiness Zone" system is inadequate to our topography.

Just so you know, the Sunset climate zone for Las Vegas is 11 and Phoenix is 13. The Container Gardening book will most likely assume that you're already familiar with the zone numbers and planting seasons; that's how Sunset is.... But Sunset's information is quite good, esp. when it comes to the different planting/harvesting times in hot desert climates.

Hope it all works out!

 

[Chrisdoc]

I´ve just started plantingfresh herbs and other plants that they can eat on the balcony so that when theygo out, they can nibble as they want. I have started with basil, lavender androsemary. They also love sage, mint, dill and thyme and I´m sure there areloads of other veggies you can grow. The herbs last so much longer than buyingthem in packets or picked and my bunnies just love them.

This is Bandy munching at the herbs on my balcony. I don´t have to worry about cutting them back, they go far too quickly lol. ´

 

[KaitlynG]

Hi Chrisdoc,

We had a free choice herb garden, however, the key word here is had..lol. It had cinnamon basil, German thyme, lavender,sage, pineapple sage, chocolate mint, orange mint, grapefruit mint, and spearmint.

They completely flattened everything but the mint and pineapple sage, but don't get me wrong, they would have got those too if they'd had the chance. Lol.

We also have about 15 kale plants, a long patio container of lettuce and oh! I almost forgot, we have 5 collard green plants too. Waiting for them to regrow though. Let the chickens wander the yard for an hour and next thing I know, all that's left of the collard greens is the veins... :foreheadsmack: don't know why they left the kale and lettuce but I do know that they just found out their love of tomatoes. And seem to be taking them right off the vines.

Anyhow, do your little ones like any herb particularly more than the others. Mine seem to thoroughly enjoy their mint the most. Anything worth planting that they really like?

 

[blwinteler]

I'm still trying different things with them. They enjoy spinach, carrots, broccoli, parsley, apple (except Groucho; he doesn't go for apple), strawberries, and banana so far. I have not found anything they don't like. They get excited about just about anything I bring them. It is adorable how excited they get.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Favourite with mine is definitely basil, sage and dill. But the lavender I bought went down very well. They also love parsley and cilantro. THey do love their herbs. I also feed them lambs lettuce, rocket, mixed radiccio, endives, broccoli, cauliflower leaves, spring cabbage leaves and they love banana, craisins and apple. Bandy likes strawberries and grapes but the other two are still not decided on those.