Raising rabbits is the perfect complement to gardening. We already knew this but rediscovered it last year when our lionhead rabbits and our garden were right next to each other. As the rabbit cages were cleaned, all of those lovely and powerful pellets (otherwise known as manure) went straight into the garden beds. As a result we had the most prolific garden we’ve ever had.

Most people do not realize that rabbit manure is like little magic bullets that can be put directly onto the garden. They will not burn your plants, but instead will provide nutrients that will enrich your soil enabling plants to keep on producing. Rabbit manure is even higher in nitrogen than poultry manures and it also contains a large amount of phosphorus–important for flower and fruit formation. As a result our tomato crop last year was “over the top.” In all my years of gardening I have never seen one tomato plant produce so many tomatoes. When it looked like the crop was tapering off, we would just add a small trowel full of rabbit manure around the base of each tomato plant and within a few days more flowers would begin to form. We were still picking ripe tomatoes after our first frost here in North Texas. (We had covered the plants with tarps to give them some protection.)

Since rabbit manure doesn’t really need to be composted, it saves on time and energy. However, even though it doesn’t need to be composted we do add generous amounts of rabbit manure to our compost pile to enable it to process and become good quality compost very quickly.

And the rabbits will gladly eat the excess garden greens such as radish tops, carrot tops (and carrots if you want to spare them), collard greens, turnip greens, etc. Just don’t feed them lettuce or cabbage. Adding greens to their diet will decrease the amount of money you need to spend on commercial rabbit food.

The other advantage of rabbits is their therapeutic nature. They are great stress relievers especially when you handle them and brush them and they make absolutely marvelous pets. So the double therapy of working in your garden and handling rabbits should help your stress level – unless of course, the rabbits manage to get loose and eat your garden!

So have fun with your perfect pair – rabbits + garden = greater productivity and wonderful synergy. And for more information on raising rabbits check out our rabbit blog; Raising Lionhead Rabbits

There are also many helpful e-books available if you’re interested in learning more about raising rabbits; Rabbit Care & Training Secrets, The Definitive Guide for Rabbit Owners and Breeding Bunnies.

Author: Sharon Reece