Mr McGregor's Garden - Rabbit Sanctuary

Free ranging rabbits give me joy!

Green Horned Tomato Worm

This year my garden was dismal in its production of food.  I think we got less than 20 tomatoes and 6-8 zucchini's. It was so frustrating fighting the drought, heat and insects.  Combined with daily visits to my poor rabbits confined in as large of cages as I could arrange for them.  I began to see an inequity that I could fix. With our triple digit temps, I couldn't act quickly as the rabbits required cooling devices we had in place to protect them during the brutal heat waves.  This gave me some valuable planning time. I also met many green horned tomato worms.  They were so beautiful that I did some research and discovered that they were endangered.  They turn into these amazing moon shaped moths.  Well that clinched the deal. 

​I sacrificed my non-producing tomatoes to the green horned worms and began to convert my garden for the rabbits.  We reinforced the fencing to keep them in, and the dogs/cats out and also put up a 2ft exterior barrier on top of the soil to prevent rabbits from digging out.  I finally transferred my 8 females and a couple young males to freedom.  I can barely get any work done since it's so much fun to watch them playing and chasing each other among the raised beds. And the best news is that I can still garden in some of the raised beds that are too high for them to invade.  I'll probably just plant carrots for the buns ;)  We are still figuring out how to deal with storms, but they won't come until January/February.  We'll figure it out as we move forward.  In the meantime, my buns have a joyful life and freedom. 

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