Peter rabbit is good for your garden

January 30, 9:10 AMSF Gardening ExaminerChris McLaughlin

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Give Peter a break.

It has been passed on from gardener to gardener for generations, that rabbits are the garden’s enemy. They squeeze under fences guzzling greens and dining on dahlias. Now, gardeners are viewing Peter rabbit in a different light. What had once been overlooked by gardeners of the past, is now being heralded by the gardeners of today. I’m talking about rabbit manure.

Rabbit pellets’ positive effects on the garden bed are extensive. As they break down, they build soil structure, improve soil porosity, soil stability, and hold nutrients for not only plants, but other soil organisms. All other animal manures require many months to compost properly until they can be added to the garden bed. Rabbit manure is the only manure that can be added without fear of burning your plants. Another plus is that red wiggler worms gravitate to rabbit manure immediately, bringing with them their own positive influence on the soil and garden.

As far as how the manure is applied, there are two different schools of thought on this:

• Some gardeners apply the pellets directly to the soil, and swear by this system.
• Others are more cautious about possible pathogens, and prefer to add it to the compost heap as a precaution as far as adding it to food plants such as tomatoes.

Gardeners everywhere sing the virtues of rabbit manure added to their flowers and vegetables, or compost. They have tagged it, ‘God’s gift to the gardener’ and “magic pellets’, ‘garden gold’, ‘rabbit gold’ other glorifying labels. The first time people start adding it to their beds it, they notice a tremendous difference in their plants and can’t wait to get their hands on more.