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).

We found our apple trees at 45 degree angles.

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.

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

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.

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

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?

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.

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

Closeup of the romaine.

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?

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.

GI 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 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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We plucked our first head of lettuce from our garden and, after a thorough washing, gave it to Coco and Cosette. A few investigative sniffs led to a full on eating contest between the two. I’d have to say our homegrown lettuce was a hit.

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!

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.

We took advantage of this sunny Friday afternoon to do some planting! We planted romaine lettuce seeds and two tomato plants in the raised bed, a third tomato plant in a large pot, and dandelion seeds in the rectangular planter box. (The tomatoes are for us.) Eventually, I’d like to add another pot of basil and a hanging strawberry plant.

Co-editor P.A. Smith and I are attempting to start a little bunny container garden. Our goal is to grow romaine and other dark leaf lettuce in one planter, and since they’re a favorite of Cosette, I thought I’d make another planter dedicated to dandelions. We are fairly new to the world of gardening, but we’ve made LOTS of compost from the rabbits’ litterbox contents, food scraps, and leaves from our yard, so we thought we’d give it a shot.

So for Phase 1 of our plan, P.A. constructed a 4′ x 4′ square bed and along with a 4′ x 1′ rectangular garden box from some wood scraps.

4′ x 4′ Square Planter for Lettuce

4′ x 1′ Rectangular Planter for Dandelions

If anyone has experience with container gardening or growing lettuce, we certainly welcome any tips!