13 Vegetable Garden Plants Rabbits Won’t Eat

Bunnies have a common cuteness, barring their capacity to devour edible and decorative crops whereas we relaxation. They make fast work of feasting on tender new progress and foraging on meals crops, discovering palatable the identical delicacies we do. It’s disappointing, to say the least, to see our homegrown meals, onerous work, and funding go to looking rabbits.

You probably have repeat guests, take into account defending the backyard and rising greens rabbits gained’t eat. Whereas each bunny’s urge for food is completely different, there are particular plant traits they have an inclination to keep away from.

Artichokes perennialize in zones 7 and hotter for years of manufacturing. In heat climates, plant them in late summer season and early fall. Direct sow seeds, begin them in seed trays, or buy them as nursery begins. They set up over a light winter for spring manufacturing. Reduce the stalk in the summertime to encourage a dormancy interval to advertise new shoots within the fall.

In cool climates, sow them indoors after the final spring frost for transplanting. Develop them by the spring and fall, slicing again the principle trunk late within the season. Insulate the stalks and roots with mulch or straw for overwintering. ‘Inexperienced Globe Improved’ stems from an 1863 heirloom selection and has higher manufacturing, much less spiny ideas, and a extra uniform behavior. They’ll mature in 5 to 6 months and develop throughout a variety of climates.

Tomato

Tomatoes deliver the juicy signature fruit of summer season, however the leaves and stalks include tomatine and solanne, that are poisonous to rabbits. Whereas the flesh is secure, the seeds and leafy progress include the naturally occurring chemical compounds. The fragrant leaves are the tell-tale signal for rabbits to not eat tomato crops.

From heirloom to trendy hybrids, massive beefsteaks to bite-sized rounds, there’s a tomato for each sunny backyard. For straightforward rising, ample yields, and fast maturing, go for cherry tomatoes.

‘Chocolate Cherry’ produces candy, one-inch spherical cherries that ripen to purplish-red. The indeterminate vines attain as much as six ft tall and produce all season. Skinny-skinned and juicy, these are among the many most flavorful of the cherry varieties.

‘Sungold’ is an early-maturing selection and a favourite for its bountiful fruits, sunny colour, and candy taste. It resists Fusarium wilt and tobacco mosaic virus. The productive vines yield about 120 tomatoes per season.

When it’s time to reap, choose tomatoes a couple of days early and allow them to ripen indoors. They’ll be simply as tasty and fewer prone to splitting and pest injury than on the vine.

Squash

Summer season and winter squashes have leaves and stems with coarse hairs or spines. These assist the vines run, cling, and climb and likewise resist predation. Squash is a vegetable rabbits gained’t eat as a consequence of its texture, a minimum of on mature crops. They could nibble the tender new shoots till the choices set up.

Winter squashes, like butternuts and pumpkins, mature in late summer season and fall, whereas summer season squashes, like zucchini and pattypan, produce extra shortly over the summer season. Winter choices take longer to develop their hefty fruits with thick skins.

Simply grown from seed, direct sow squash one to 2 weeks after the ultimate frost and when soil temperature warms above 70℉. Their roots are delicate to breakage throughout transplanting. In areas with quick rising seasons solely, strive beginning them indoors in biodegradable pots to permit time for improvement. Dwarf varieties might mature earlier, giving fewer alternatives for rabbits to forage.

Corn

Corn is one other vegetable that rabbits gained’t eat, or a minimum of one which upsets their digestion and doesn’t supply them numerous dietary advantages. As stalks develop tall, the ears turn into out of attain of the bunnies’ scope (though different intelligent animals chop the husk on the floor to achieve the bounty). 

Candy corn is the most well-liked “consuming” kind for its excessive sugar and juicy kernels. In heat climate, candy corn grows shortly from seed. Search for an early-maturing selection like ‘Golden Bantam,’ which tolerates cool spring soils. The 1902 heirloom bears candy, yellow kernels on two sturdy ears.

Colourful additions embrace ‘Ambrosia’ with white and yellow kernels and supreme taste and ‘Martian Jewels’ with pale white kernels towards purple husks and cobs. Direct sow corn one to 2 weeks after the ultimate frost and as soil temperatures rise above 60℉. The hotter, the higher for the crop to develop.

Scallions

Additionally referred to as spring, bunching, or inexperienced onions, scallions are an easy-to-grow cool-season favourite, contemporary or cooked. Within the Allium household, their pungency is a sign to bunnies to keep away from the poisonous compounds.

Inexperienced onions are hardy in zones 6-9. Begin sowing earlier than spring’s closing frost and sow successional rounds till heat climate arrives (excellent soil temperatures are between 60-85℉). Sow one other fast-maturing choice in late summer season/early fall to take pleasure in earlier than winter.

‘White Lisbon’ is a 1700s heirloom that matures in 60 days and is dependable underneath numerous circumstances. It’s warmth—and cold-tolerant for climate shifts with seasonal change. ‘Tokyo Lengthy’ is a Japanese selection with a light, candy, oniony taste and lengthy, slender stalks. ‘Italian Pink of Florence’ options deep purple stems for a wonderful, flavorful distinction amongst contemporary salads and garnishes.

Rosemary

Rosemary provides taste to the edible panorama along with kind, perfume, and flowers. Rabbits don’t eat this companion plant within the vegetable backyard due to its robust lemony camphor scent and thick, needled foliage.

In early summer season, small blue blooms cowl the stems, including seasonal curiosity to evergreen foliage and attracting pollinators. The extremely aromatic leaves are perfect for clipping for perfume, ornament, and culinary makes use of. Search for ‘Barbecue’ for upright stems excellent for grilling.

A Mediterranean native, rosemary thrives in full solar and exceptionally well-drained soils. It’s a drought-tolerant, carefree perennial with multi-season attraction. ‘Barbecue’ or hardy ‘Arp’ deliver a stif, uprightf texture, whereas cascading types like ‘Huntington Carpet’ path and spill to melt borders and edges.

Garlic

Garlic is a part of the identical Amaryllidaceae household that homes these poisonous alliums. Rabbits don’t eat the pungent leaves or bulbs due to the toxins. 

Garlic is straightforward to plant and grows with little tending over the autumn and winter. It’s finest to plant it in September in chilly climates, ready till October or November in heat climates when temperatures chill. In containers, tuck it in amongst your different veggies for a spring harvest.

Garlic bulbs are both hardneck or softneck. Hardnecks have a daring, spicy taste and are simple to peel. They require a chill interval and develop nicely in chilly climates. Softneck varieties are usually smaller bulbs and work nicely throughout cold and warm climates.

‘Nootka Rose’ options pink recommendations on the cloves with white outer layers. It adapts to a variety of climates with few issues. ‘Silver White’ is a light basic with practically 100 years of cooking and contemporary consuming. It, too, adapts to variable circumstances and temperatures.

Leeks

One other delicate, versatile vegetable that rabbits gained’t eat is the Allium leek. Leeks have a wealthy, delicate onion taste that sweetens and mellows throughout cooking. 

Sow them two to 4 weeks earlier than the common final frost for a late summer season harvest and once more in late spring to take pleasure in within the fall. In heat climates, sow them in late summer season for a spring harvest. They’ll overwinter in zone 7 and hotter.

‘King Richard’ grows lengthy, white stems which can be thick and dense. The leeks are hardy to twenty°F (-7°C) for an prolonged harvest. They mature in 75 days as an early, full-sized choice. ‘King Richard’ is a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Backyard Benefit winner for its strong progress and early harvest.

Sage

Like rosemary, sage is a basic herb to accompany the vegetable backyard. Its velvety leaves and earthy scent deter bunnies. The Mediterranean perennial withstands scorching, arid summers and chilly winters and is hardy in zones 4 to eight.

Search for S. officinalis ‘Berggarten’ (additionally referred to as ‘Herrenhausen’) for a spread with elevated mildew resistance. It options broad, blue-gray leaves and lavender bloom spikes in the summertime. ‘Berggarten’ holds Award of Backyard Benefit standing for its decorative worth and panorama efficiency.

Potatoes

Within the nightshade household (Solanaceae) with tomatoes, rabbits don’t want to eat potatoes. They could examine or nibble the slips (starters) however are inclined to keep away from them as soon as progress ensues. Solanine ranges make them toxic, they usually’re powerful for rabbits to digest.

In northerly climates, plant potatoes after the specter of frost passes and because the soil warms. In southern zones, plant them in late summer season for a cool-season harvest. Attempt ‘Clancy,’ a small, creamy, spherical potato grown from seed. The hybrid is an All-America Choices award winner for its efficiency. Begin seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks earlier than the ultimate frost. In heat rising areas, sow them in midsummer to reap within the fall.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a basic early spring crop with colourful, fibrous, bitter stalks when uncooked. The depth of sourness and colour differ by selection. Cooked and sweetened into pies and breads, it turns into a complement filler, or strained with sugar, a juice. 

Whereas the stalks are edible, the leaves are poisonous to individuals and animals. In massive portions, the edible stalks can have adversarial results on sure well being circumstances. Excessive ranges of oxalic acid make the old style, strong grower a wide selection for greens rabbits gained’t eat.

Rhubarb wants wealthy, loamy, well-drained soil to thrive. It does finest in areas with lengthy, chilly winters and delicate summers. A single plant grows massive and is chilly hardy to zone 4 (and possibly decrease with winter safety). Harvest stalks of their second 12 months of progress.

Mexican Tarragon

Tarragon is one other herb with fragrant leaves. It is available in three varieties: French, Russian, and Mexican. True tarragon is the French, Artemisia dracunculus. Native to Russia and western Asia however popularized in European delicacies, French tarragon has the purest anise taste and shiny, aromatic leaves. Throughout cooking, tarragon takes on a mellow, candy taste. Rabbits might come to graze on contemporary progress, although some might be delay by the scent.

Russian tarragon (A. dracunculus dracunculoides) is a taller, coarser plant with lesser taste than the French. Vigorous crops develop to 5 ft tall. Russian tarragon grows from seed, whereas French tarragon propagates by vegetative cuttings (crops seldom flower, and seeds could also be sterile).

Mexican tarragon is a heat-loving various to French tarragon, which doesn’t face up to scorching summers. Additionally referred to as summer season tarragon, Mexican marigold, and Spanish tarragon, this one is mostly a marigold species (Tagetes lucida) native to Central and South America. Mexican tarragon produces clusters of gold, daisy-like flowers in late summer season and fall. The flowers are edible and candy, excellent for teas and garnishes. However, in portions, they maintain poisonous compounds for rabbits.

Tarragon grows finest in mild, well-draining soils in a heat, sunny backyard. Permit soils to dry barely between waterings and supply mulch for insulation in winter.

Asparagus

Asparagus brings contemporary inexperienced spears to early spring in its second or third 12 months of progress. The cold-hardy perennial is long-lived (as much as 15 years), and planting it in spring to let it set up is a long-lasting funding. Its tender, nutrient-rich stems develop shortly to achieve peak readiness in cool circumstances.

Asparagus is excessive in folate (which helps us course of iron), amino acids, nutritional vitamins, and minerals. The harvest season is about two months within the spring, and the ferny higher progress can kind over the remainder of the nice and cozy season. The perennials have deep roots and tolerate quite a lot of soil varieties so long as they’re well-draining. They want common moisture as roots set up.