Garden Go’s

[Barnyard Boars]

Hey everybody!

This summer I am wanting to so badly make a garden for my pigs. I have a garden box in my back yard of which I am going to fence up, and am wanting to plant a variety of veggies for my piggies to hop in and much on! Now I have a few questions.... I am wanting to plant tomatoes, but as I know tomato greens are poisonous could I still plant tomatoes but fence them off, so I could pluck a tomato off for them to munch on but they cannot walk to the plant? I also need a few ideas of what to plant! So far I have cat grass (is this okay?), and snap peas. I need some variety! I’d love to make it like a magical little garden that they can explore and lay out. Also, I have a skinny as some of you may know and obviously he cannot he in direct sunlight, would placing a large heavy duty umbrella over the garden be good enough? How could I go about this that my Milton will stay safe? Them walking around in dirt won’t affect them will it? Can they catch anything this way?

 

[Pearl and Zip]

The reason why veggies need to be washed is because they have dirt. You’d need to wash the veggies of their dirt before feeding them to the pigs.

Also, the guinea pigs will require to be bathed after because mites and dirt can get into their fur when they are left outside.

It will be useful, though, the grow the garden, because then you won’t have to buy veggies for the pigs, and your fridge won’t be as full!

If you really want it to be a walk-in garden, here are some ideas:

- Limit the dirt as much as possible. Maybe use rubber mulch mats where there are no plants, and gravel or something where there are plants. This should limit the amount of bugs and mess.

- Keep in mind the guinea pigs should only be allowed 1 cup of veggies per day per pig.

- this website should help. Nutrition READ ME- Cavy Nutrition Charts & Poisonous Plants List

- If you want to be extra safe, you could make a tent like structure around the garden using a fine mesh. This should keep out wasps and other harmful insects.

 

[Barnyard Boars]

The reason why veggies need to be washed is because they have dirt. You’d need to wash the veggies of their dirt before feeding them to the pigs.

Also, the guinea pigs will require to be bathed after because mites and dirt can get into their fur when they are left outside.

It will be useful, though, the grow the garden, because then you won’t have to buy veggies for the pigs, and your fridge won’t be as full!

If you really want it to be a walk-in garden, here are some ideas:

- Limit the dirt as much as possible. Maybe use rubber mulch mats where there are no plants, and gravel or something where there are plants. This should limit the amount of bugs and mess.

- Keep in mind the guinea pigs should only be allowed 1 cup of veggies per day per pig.

- this website should help. Nutrition READ ME- Cavy Nutrition Charts & Poisonous Plants List

- If you want to be extra safe, you could make a tent like structure around the garden using a fine mesh. This should keep out wasps and other harmful insects.

Thank you!
They’ll only go in the garden for a few minutes a day when the warm weather comes to run around and get their veg for the day! I’ll lay something over the dirt so they aren’t walking in it

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

I have a piggy garden too! A favourite is Swiss chard, I love it too because it self seeds every year so no effort or extra cost for me!

I would section off the area you're growing in, I don't know if you plan on using fertiliser or slug repellents but all those sorts of things are toxic. It also isn't great as piggies would just eat it all and give themselves poorly tummies, because they're daft haha. It's best to control what veggies they get and when so you can make sure they get just what they need and not too much, veg is about 10% of their daily diet and grass also counts under this bracket.

I'm unsure about cat grass but have often wondered that myself. Someone else may be able to clear that up for us.

As for going outside, they will be absolutely fine and you don't need to bath them after or treat them. As for Milton just give him plenty of shade, do you treat his skin at all? Gorgeous guineas are great, I don't know if they make a piggy sun cream but if they do that might be worth a look into!

 

[Reenie]

It sounds fab. I let mine out in the front garden, but they only have access to grass. This means I don't have to limit the time they're out, as they can basically eat as much grass as they want (after the initial period to get them used to it)

 

[Janice C]

Hey everybody!

This summer I am wanting to so badly make a garden for my pigs. I have a garden box in my back yard of which I am going to fence up, and am wanting to plant a variety of veggies for my piggies to hop in and much on! Now I have a few questions.... I am wanting to plant tomatoes, but as I know tomato greens are poisonous could I still plant tomatoes but fence them off, so I could pluck a tomato off for them to munch on but they cannot walk to the plant? I also need a few ideas of what to plant! So far I have cat grass (is this okay?), and snap peas. I need some variety! I’d love to make it like a magical little garden that they can explore and lay out. Also, I have a skinny as some of you may know and obviously he cannot he in direct sunlight, would placing a large heavy duty umbrella over the garden be good enough? How could I go about this that my Milton will stay safe? Them walking around in dirt won’t affect them will it? Can they catch anything this way?

We had a raised bed last year that was fenced off with thick netting to keep our rabbit out! I had Spinach, parsley, celery and some herbs planted in it. I didn't worry about them eating too much as they only seemed to be interested in running up and down the length of the raised bed and under all the plants! It was great watching all the plants rustling about when you couldn't see what was doing it! I had one of their nests at one end in case they wanted a retreat but mainly they stayed hidden in the plants. Only let them in this when one of us in the garden though in case of overhead predators spotting them. E.g. Sparrowhawks!

 

[Barnyard Boars]

I have kind of turned down the piggie garden idea as if I plant grass in the garden I’ll probably never get rid of it, so instead I’ll have the same concept but am growing grass in planters for them to munch on, they’ll probably get a kiddie pool to run around in and munch on veg! I don’t treat Milton’s skin as I’ve never had the chance to take him anywhere near the sun, but when he does go out this summer I will make sure to place them in the shade. I figure it’ll be a once a week treat as that’s kind of what’s happening now. They got cut back on veg tons, aside from their peppers, and carrots for vitamin C and hand feeding taming. But other than that they get a whack of their favourite veg once a week as a treat.