New gardener with small garden and rabbit issues, please help!

Hi there I am new to gardening and currently have a small plastic greenhouse and a few grow bags. My garden/ court yard has no grass. My tomato plants and courgettes have today been planted into grow bags and are now in my smallish garden.

I have a few issues/ questions

1. How much space do plants need to grow?

2. I own a rabbit who has a plant obsession, she has already managed to eat my pepper plant, and I really want to prevent her from damaging the plants that I've just put in the grow bags. How do I do this without causing issues to the growth of the plants? I have currently put some mesh sheets around it it but It's not very stable and I know when the bunny is loose it won't take her long to get into it. Any ideas are welcome. My brain is frazzeld for ideas.

3. I also have some lettuce growing in trays, these have been on the outside table and the soil seems to have move around a lot, I'm not sure if this is through carelessness whilst watering, something that happens when it grows or birds pecking in the soil, any ideas?

Thanks, Vicky

 

Hi Vicky & welcome to Gardeners Corner.

I'm afraid rabbits and edible plants just don't mix.

You'll need a decent bit of wire mesh with no gaps.

As long as the lettuce roots are still in the soil, they'll hang on, could be watering but just as likely blackbirds diging it out, mine were uprooting things non stop during the drought:OUCH:

 

We don't have a pet rabbit, just whole families of wild ones! The only preparation I've found that works is something called Grazers. It seems initially expensive but you dilute it a lot so it works out very reasonably priced. You use it in a spray. It doesn't harm the rabbits (works on deer too), just makes the plant unpalatable to them. You'll probably have to reapply after a while, but I'm happy that it works. I've used it on veg and flowers and it doesn't make the veg inedible for humans or even taste funny! It works best if you apply it before the rabbit finds she likes the stuff in your grow bags!

 

I own a rabbit who has a plant obsession, she has already managed to eat my pepper plant, and I really want to prevent her from damaging the plants that I've just put in the grow bags. How do I do this without causing issues to the growth of the plants? I have currently put some mesh sheets around it it but It's not very stable and I know when the bunny is loose it won't take her long to get into it. Any ideas are welcome. My brain is frazzeld for ideas.

In case "Proper Gardeners" out there are too shy to suggest the obvious, can I offer:- Lunch