This is the mess that greeted me this morning when I went to investigate the odd banging sounds coming from the kitchen:

Can you spot Scamp? No, me neither, that would be because he’s sitting under the work top in the veg rack practising his “Who me?” face. The onions are safe (removed after the previous invasion) but we may need new potatoes.

He was a bit miffed at having fun spoilt:

I think most naughty bunny behaviour is just bored bunny behaviour. Wild rabbits would usually be to busy eating to make trouble, so the obvious solution for Scamp’s boredom is food too. I cut him some grass and scattered it around the floor so he could ‘graze’. It kept him quiet for a little while at least.

Look what I found whilst cutting grass…

Do be careful this time of year if you’re mowing grass, as there are frogs and soon baby froglets crawling in it looking for bugs and shade. I was using scissors so this chap hoped off safe… maybe he’ll eat some of the slugs.

Everything is growing away well, although it would be nice if it stayed a bit warmer at night so I could put out some of the more tender things filling up my window sills.

Did you sow some carrots? Mine are just getting their second set of leaves and looking more like carroty. These are from BBC Dig In:

They are currently residing in my lovely new greenhouse/cloche/cat and rabbit defence system:

Along with leeks, lettuce, chard, radish, beetroot, spring onions, celery, and a couple of tomatoes that out grew the window sill. It’s surprising what you can grow just in tubs and pots.

Whilst most of these things are for me to eat, there will be loads of trimmings for the bunnies too. They will love things like this basil (once it gets a bit bigger):

Inside, my window sills are full of things that don’t like frost like tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, squash, melon, pepino and cape gooseberry. These pretty little flowers are sweet peppers:

See that green bit it the centre of the flower? That’s the start of a pepper. In a few days the petals will drop away leaving a tiny green pepper behind.

Sorry no bunny pics this time. They are just off camera licking their lips.

As near as I can estimate today or tomorrow is Scamp’s third birthday. As I haven’t posted it before, I thought I would tell you Scamp’s ‘gotcha’ story. There are some happy bits and some very sad bits and lots of baby photos.

I got a call in the beginning of May in 2007. My vets had given my number to a lady whose husband was working on a building site and uncovered some baby rabbits and they needed someone to take them. They babies were supposedly 3-4 weeks old, so I agreed expecting they’d be ready to pass on to a wildlife rescue for release.

When she arrived with the babies, I opened the box to find five almost hairless bundles with their eyes still closed, closer to a week old than three. It transpired that a digger had scooped up a load of sand and along with it the nest.  There was 3″ of sand in the bottom of the box to corroborate the story. The whole site was being cleared so they couldn’t be left and the foreman had suggested disposing of the babies (!). The ladies husband had refused and taken them to keep safe.

That evening involved a mad call around to find somewhere still open with replacement milk in stock. Luckily a vet across town stayed late to let us pick some up and so began the endless feeding routine.

Baby rabbits being hand reared need feeding 3-4 times per day as the replacement milk is not as nutritious as a mummy rabbit’s milk. It needs to be done very slowly and carefully, as if too much goes in the mouth at once they can inhale it leading to respiratory infection. In between feedings everything needs to be sterilized.

A few days after arrival, and quite a lot of feeds later, they opened their eyes. By this point their fur was coming in a little more too and they look more like miniature bunnies than very plump sausages. To give you an idea of size, at this point they weighed just 80-100g each.

By two weeks old they were starting to explore and feeding time turned into a crazy bunny wrangling game. They were prone to jump in random directions with absolutely no consideration for the distance or landings.

At two and a half weeks the heart break began. One by one within hours they went from happily bouncing and feeding to passed away. The vet could offer no assistance, it’s likely they had a intestinal virus/infection or just that their gut couldn’t cope.  Substitutes are just not as good as what mum can offer.

By week three there was only a single bun left, the biggest of them all. At this point I was expecting to loose him too… there were a good few weeks before I had any certainty that he would make it. Despite my worries he started eating solids and drinking his milk from a bowl, and would snuggle up for a cuddle under my chin afterwards.

And he grew (4 weeks old) …

And grew (8 weeks old)…

And grew (12 weeks old)….

Now Scamp is a wild rabbit and I would normally agree that wild animals belong in the wild and that was my original intention. However by the time we knew he’d make it, he was much to tame having had too much human company after the lose of his siblings. Right or wrong there was no way he could be released. He wasn’t meant to be permanent here either, but obviously we couldn’t rehome him until we knew he whether he was a him or a her, and then not until he was neutered and by then he’d been here a year and we were all kind of smitten. Three years on, will still are.

And that is Scamp’s story.

The lovely warm weather has the grass growing like crazy. I’ve been picking a bowl a day. The rabbits love it, it’s good for their tummies & teeth, and the more fresh grass they eat the less hay I have to buy! If your bunnies aren’t used to grass remember to introduce it gradually and build up the quantity slowly like any new foods.

A few weeks ago I sowed my first carrots of the year and they are just poking their noses up now. I don’t have a lot of ground space so my carrots are in containers. I tried this for the first time last year and it worked really well. Lots of carrots for us to eat and lots of carrot tops for the rabbits to eat (and maybe the odd carrot too).

Here’s how you do it (photos from last year):

Something to Grow In

I use plastic storage boxes for my carrots but any deepish container will work eg a big flower pot, box or bucket. My storage boxes were see-through so I’ve taped black plastic around from an old compost bag, that way the carrots aren’t in the light. If you are really short on space you can grow small carrots in window boxes. You can also use a plastic bottle with the top cut off. You won’t get giant carrots but you can keep harvesting the tops for a healthy treat for you bunny.

Check your container has holes, mine didn’t so I use a drill to add holes to the bottom. Otherwise they will fill with water when it rains and flood your carrots!

Fill your container with compost or soil, any general purpose compost will do. If you have some to hand then mix in a bit of sharp sand. Carrots like nice loose soil to grow in, not heavy clay, so it’s easy for them to get their roots through.

Seeds and Sowing

If you try buying carrot seeds you’ll find lots of varieties to pick from. Read the packet to see what features they have. If your growing in containers avoid ones that claim to be really long show carrots. I’m growing Early Nantes, Chantenay Red Core (from the BBC), and Parmex. The later are round carrots (like a gold ball) and are meant to be great for growing in shallow containers or clay/stoney ground. When you are buying seeds it’s worth having a look at children’s seeds, often they have the same varieties but at pocket money prices.

To sow the seeds draw a line in the soil about 1/2″ (1cm) deep, then sprinkle the seeds thinly. I aim for one seed every inch. Draw the lines about an inch apart too. If you don’t mind fiddly sowing an alternative is to poke holes with a pencil and drop a seed in each. Again aim for a grid with the seeds 1″ apart in each direction. Don’t worry too much about planting them the exact distance apart though. If you get them too close you can thin them out and give the spare plants to your rabbit.

It will take the seeds 2-3 weeks to germinate so wait patiently. You can speed it up a bit by putting a bit of plastic over to keep it warmer. Take it off once they germinate.

Thinning & Harvest

If you managed to get your seeds about 1″ apart they shouldn’t need too much thinning at first. Once they start pushing again each other start harvesting them as baby carrots, taking out every other carrot to leave the others room to grow.

If you want a really long harvest period then sow your carrots in batches 3-4 weeks apart, then you’ll have some ready all summer. They keep well in the ground too so you can leave them in containers and although they won’t grow more there will still be carrots to pull up in autumn/winter.

If you cut the tops whilst they grow you’ll get smaller carrots, so try taking a few leaves from each instead of the whole lot if you are using them as bunny snack food.

So, anyone going to give it a go?