# Photos of Our Outdoor Russian Tortoise Enclosure and Garden



## Oxalis

Here's a photo of our new outdoor enclosure and garden for Steve. It's 8 feet x 12 feet. As a tip: I did find that the wood was much cheaper from the outdoor gardening section rather than the lumber section of the hardware store (they're fencing planks from Lowe's). As of now, we have the walls up and some of the dirt put in. I'll have to get a bit more dirt, and then I have a couple bags of manure that can go in when I start planting. I have a small list of plants that I know Steve loves, but feel free to add any suggestions! Cheers to a new growing season (at least here in Michigan)! 




 My amazing boyfriend put together the walls so he got me the best tortoise Mother's Day gift!!!  I will post more photos as our garden grows!


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## taza

Looks nice, but are you sure you want to put a couple of bags of manure in there.


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## Tom

Off to a good start. Now you need an underground cave for getting out of the summer sun and heat, and lots of plants and bushes.


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## wellington

Looking good. Did you put some fencing or something on the bottom so he won't dig out?


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## Oxalis

Thanks! I plan to build him a little wooden house/hide for him to escape under!

Here in this part of Michigan we have very little topsoil and just under that a lot of clay, plus if you see the deck behind the enclosure, I have a nice lounge chair where I'll be relaxing and watching over my little dude!


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## Oxalis

The seeds are down and watered so hopefully some plants start to grow soon!! Only the mustard greens and kohlrabi are transplanted. Here's what I got:

Giant Caesar lettuce
Black seeded Simpson lettuce
Mustard greens
Kohlrabi
Catalogna Emerald endive
Wando pea
Earliana cabbage
Salad Slicer cucumber
Georgia collards
Sparkler radish
Broccoli Raab rapini
Catalogna chicory
Early Treviso radicchio
Blue kale
Purple Top White Globe turnip


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## Jacqui

Looking good! My only suggestion would be adding a cap (inward over hanging) along the top, especially corners so he can't climb out. Lucky tortoise is getting some kohlrabi! I love them.  BE sure to show us how it looks once everything starts growing. Where will his water dish be?


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## Oxalis

This is after I got all the seeds and water dish in. All that is left now is to wait for some sprouts and build a little wooden house/hide for Steve! Once some greens come up, I may get some larger shrubs like hibiscus to provide him with more cover.


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## dmmj

Looks good, needs hides and plants, and please cap those corners, those russians can climb.


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## Jacqui

Looking better and better all the time! My Russians all love to dig under any of the cement pavers I put in to use as stepping stones, so I can never use them as a walkway.  Last night, when I was trying to sleep, I keep thinking about this thread. I realized I did not make the comment that I had never thought to use the fence panel strips this way. Good thinking outside the box!

... now it's the wait for stuff to start to sprout and grow...


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## Saleama

Oxalis said:


> Thanks! I plan to build him a little wooden house/hide for him to escape under!
> 
> Here in this part of Michigan we have very little topsoil and just under that a lot of clay, plus if you see the deck behind the enclosure, I have a nice lounge chair where I'll be relaxing and watching over my little dude!


 Russians can dig right through clay. Mine always dig from the border so I sunk the fence in about 8 inches on one side and over a foot at the back. i also lined the entire bottom edge with 2 feet of coated wire fencing for good measure. Before you place your hide, consider putting your tort in first and seeing where he likes to sleep and put the hide there. I built a nice hide inplace and mine sleep right out in the open where they have always slept. The only thing they do with the hide is climb on top of it to get some extra sun. LOL


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## Yvonne G

I'm worried about your stepping stones. They're so tall and if he tries to climb and tips over backwards?


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## Oxalis

Thanks for the tips! I have a ton of lava rock I can always put under the base of the walls if needed. The walls are a few inches into the ground too. I'm going to dig the stepping stones in deeper when it finally stops raining (been raining here for the past 3 days). I might move them around too; I haven't decided yet, but they definitely won't be left up so high! I was thinking of using a terra cotta pot for a hide as well.


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## Tom

You will need something more significant for hides than that. A wooden structure or a pot on its side with the summer sun beating down on it will still be too hot. They need something thick enough that the sun doesn't heat up the inside when it hits the top. I prefer to go underground a little and then pile a few inches of dirt on top. If you dig a small depression, put three cinderblocks in a U shape, put a couple of 2x12' sections on top of the blocks and then put a few inches of dirt from the hole you dug over that, your tortoise will always have a cool retreat in the heat of summer. Make the door opening face North.

Adding some potted bushes or shrubs, or planting some, will help a lot too.

You've planted a whole lot of grocery store foods. Now you need to plant a whole lot of "natural" foods. Here are some suggestions:
Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:
There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:
"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes
Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html
Homegrown alfalfa
Mazuri Tortoise Chow
ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food


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## Oxalis

Awesome list! Thanks so much, Tom!  I did also put down that Testudo Seed Mix from Tortoise Supply. I'm definitely planning on getting _lots_ of weeds and shrubs as the season progresses!  Mallow was already on my list too!


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## Oxalis

I probably should've mentioned that Steve won't be staying outside for the entire summer, I'll just be taking him out on nice days and I'll be nearby to watch him. (We tend to have a lot of ups and downs in our weather!)

I have some plants growing, yey! This should be the Testudo Seed Mix from Tortoise Supply. Also, here's a photo of one of the tortoise sculptures next to the kohlrabi.


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## Oxalis

Here are some of the latest photos, now that some things have grown in!! Our mantids egg hatched too, so we have more babies than just our tortoise and fishies. 









Steve has _a ton_ of plants to hide under (and eat!) and most of them are from the Tortoise Supply Testudo Seed Mix—which he absolutely loves.

I'm pretty sure these photos are a week or two old and the plants have already grown more since I took the pictures!!


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## Yvonne G

Great pictures! He looks very happy.


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## Oxalis

Yvonne G said:


> Great pictures! He looks very happy.


Thanks!! I'm determined to spoil him all I can!


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## terryo

Your plants are filling in and everything looks great. Every time I go to Petco I see those poor Russians waiting for a home. Your's is so lucky to have you and that great outdoor garden.


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## Jacqui

So wonderful to see these pictures of what it is starting to look like now that the plants are coming in.


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## lynnedit

Looks fantastic. Steve is a lucky tortoise.
You will find the stepping stones make it easier for you to get around too, as long as he isn't underneath. :O

I do think an 8' plank (10-12" wide) along either end would create a cap at the corners, and also create a shelf for pots, or whatever you want.

One thing I have found helpful with water dishes is to have two nested. I drill some holes in the bottom one and sink it into the soil. Then when you pull the top one out to clean, the bottom one acts as a place holder for it. You can also plant 'steppables' like thyme or scotch moss around the water dish to help it stay cleaner.

I really like what you have done.


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## Tom

He sitting there in the middle of all that food looking like, "Man. Where do I start?" I get a similar look on my face when I get my first plate at one of those fancy Vegas buffets.


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## Tom

lynnedit said:


> You will find the stepping stones make it easier for you to get around too, as long as he isn't underneath. :O
> 
> One thing I have found helpful with water dishes is to have two nested. I drill some holes in the bottom one and sink it into the soil. Then when you pull the top one out to clean, the bottom one acts as a place holder for it.




These are my two favorite tips of the year! About once a month I have to carry the little hand shovel around and re-dig out my water bowl holes. I feel really dumb for not thinking of this myself!

I just recently went and got pavers. When weed season hits I can't even walk in some of my pens because its too thick with vegetation. Then the weeds dry up and die off and I get socks full of foxtails and mallow seed pods every time I step foot in the pens.

Thanks for sharing Lynne.


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## julietteq

Love all the plants ! Job well done


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## lynnedit

Tom said:


> These are my two favorite tips of the year! About once a month I have to carry the little hand shovel around and re-dig out my water bowl holes. I feel really dumb for not thinking of this myself!
> 
> I just recently went and got pavers. When weed season hits I can't even walk in some of my pens because its too thick with vegetation. Then the weeds dry up and die off and I get socks full of foxtails and mallow seed pods every time I step foot in the pens.
> 
> Thanks for sharing Lynne.



Sure! To make sure the bottom one doesn't pop out when I remove the top one, I actually push garden staples (the kind for landscape fabric) into a couple of the drilled holes to hold it in place.
I can't stand extra work, always looking for little short cuts, lol.


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## dickoem

what about the winter?


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## Oxalis

dickoem said:


> what about the winter?


Steve has an indoor enclosure for the winter. In fact, the little dude has his own bedroom!! Not sure yet whether I'll hibernate him this year...


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## Sweetu

The plants have grown well.Lucky tortoise.


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## Oxalis

We just came home from vacation last night and here's our garden today! I have a couple pretty big turnips and radishes. The seeds I put down where the mustard greens were removed have come up so they'll fill in the empty spaces soon. It's quite the salad bar and plenty of room for little Steve to hide!!!


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## jmiron

I was wondering if I can pick things during the summer months and dry them so during our michigan winters he can have dandelion weeds, squash leaves, etc.? If so, how do u go about drying them so they maintain their nutritional value? PleAse advise. By the way, this site is so helpful!


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## bouaboua

Any photos update??


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## weldorNate

I don't know about drying the leaves but u could dig up some dandelion and other weeds and things and put in a pot to grow in during the winter.


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## Carol S

Looks great. So many healthy things for him to eat and also provides a lot of shade He is a very lucky tortoise.


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## Hix2008

Love the plants I wish mine would grow like that.


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## turtlemanfla88

My Russians love oputia cactus pricky pear and fig leaves are two others you might want to plant. It looks great.


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## Oxalis

lynnedit said:


> One thing I have found helpful with water dishes is to have two nested. I drill some holes in the bottom one and sink it into the soil. Then when you pull the top one out to clean, the bottom one acts as a place holder for it. You can also plant 'steppables' like thyme or scotch moss around the water dish to help it stay cleaner.


Sorry for the late reply! I plan on making the garden even better this year! I was wondering if you were referring to drilling holes into a terra cotta saucer. Is this easy; does it often cause the saucer to crack? Nesting two saucers sounds like a great idea as well!! Thanks again for the tip!


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## TortsNTurtles

This looks wonderful! I love seeing all that green!


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## Oxalis

Tom said:


> You will need something more significant for hides than that. A wooden structure or a pot on its side with the summer sun beating down on it will still be too hot. They need something thick enough that the sun doesn't heat up the inside when it hits the top. I prefer to go underground a little and then pile a few inches of dirt on top. If you dig a small depression, put three cinderblocks in a U shape, put a couple of 2x12' sections on top of the blocks and then put a few inches of dirt from the hole you dug over that, your tortoise will always have a cool retreat in the heat of summer. Make the door opening face North.


Thanks for the awesome tips and list of plants. I have many more wildflowers and weeds planned for the garden this year! Some of the plants I am getting are native species, which should be more tolerant to our crazy Michigan weather. 

Sorry for the late reply, but I meant to follow up with you regarding the tortoise hide. Above, did you mean a "2x12' section" plank of wood or another material? I wonder about wood getting moldy under a layer of dirt. Also, would I be able to provide a terra cotta pot hide if I first dig a small depression and then be sure the top of the pot is covered with dirt? I am thinking this may keep it cooler inside? If not, I can definitely dig out a space for him and use the many bricks we have -- it's just the "roof" material that I am unsure about. Thanks!!


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## Tom

I don't have any mold issues when I use wood, and a 2x12 will take a long time to rot through. You can use some other material for the roof if it suits your climate better.


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## Oxalis

Hi all! I plan to close off the top of the enclosure (with chicken wire) to keep out hawks and rabbits. This way the tortoise mommy will be a lot more comfortable leaving Steve outside to play. I also have lots of new plants to try out, so I will have to post what I'll be planting later. I randomly threw down some Coreopsis seed, so I think that is sprouting now, and the Testudo Mix from Tortoise Supply is already coming back with a vengeance! So keep an eye out for photos!


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## Oxalis

Tom said:


> I don't have any mold issues when I use wood, and a 2x12 will take a long time to rot through. You can use some other material for the roof if it suits your climate better.


Thanks, Tom! What with our drastic changes in humidity throughout the year, I'll look into that!!


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## Oxalis

Here's Stevie enjoying a last few minutes in his garden before we took down the fences.





And then I'll get together our weekend photos of re-building!


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## Oxalis

*Day 1*

First we tore down the old fences and then put down the rocks around where the new fencing will go. Hopefully this will keep him from burrowing out under the fence.




I got another tortoise statue, so I'll have to find a place for him!



Here's another photo of the bricks. I can't believe we had enough from around the yard to fit under all the new fencing.



I pulled a couple weeds to see if I could identify them once they got a little older. Any ideas?



*Day 2*

Thank goodness for the nice weather this weekend! But we did get a bit warm and sun-burnt... We put up the posts (4''x4'' douglas fir) and connected them to cross beams (2''x4'' treated wood, most likely pine). Our awesome Michigan clay held the posts in place pretty well!!



Here's my tortoise sign, cleaned and ready to go up on a post.



Here's my boyfriend getting the pieces assembled.




Here are the new walls, which are a foot high made from cedar (which smell awesome!).



Next I will be covering up the rocks with dirt/clay and flattening out the ground. Then I will take Steve out there to see how he fits. I probably won't need another layer of cedar boards along the walls since we plan to cover the "ceiling" and "walls" with chicken wire. That should keep out the hawks and rabbits and keep Stevie in. The reason for the height is because I did not want to restrict the growth of my plants, and I wanted the space to go inside and rototill or work in the garden. We didn't plan on it being this tall (~ 8') but we worked with the lumber that was available at Lowe's. We should be putting a door on the side too; I'll just have to step up and over the cedar walls. I also have a few bricks left to put out as basking rocks for Steve. I will probably have to buy more dirt to cover up all the spaces under the walls (both on the inside and outside), but so far I've spent quite a pretty penny on this project! Steve is definitely worth it though!


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## DawnH

Love, love, LOVE it!!!


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## Oxalis

Here is the list of native Michigan species I will be purchasing to plant in Steve's enclosure (scientific name; common name). These are from the Native Plant Nursery LLC nearby in Ann Arbor and are all grown without pesticides.  This was just all that was available from the Native Plant Nursery. There is also 2 Michigan native _Hibiscus_ species, believe it or not, and I plant to get at least one if I can find it. I also have a list of seeds at home that I will post later. Everything I chose is categorized as either "safe to feed" or "safe in moderation" on The Tortoise Table. In the end, there should be some really good variety available for him!

_Aster laevis_; Smooth Aster
_Aster novae-angliae_; New-England Aster
_Aster oolentangiensis_; Sky Blue Aster
_Aster shortii_; Short's aster
_Coreopsis lanceolata_; Sand Coreopsis
_Coreopsis tripteris_; Tall Coreopsis
_Geranium maculatum_; Wild Geranium
_Mimulus ringens_; Monkey Flower
_Monarda fistulosa_; Beebalm
_Monarda punctata_; Horsemint
_Oenothera biennis_; Evening Primrose

*Potted:*
_Opuntia humifusa_; Prickly pear

*Outside the enclosure:*
_Rosa palustris_; Swamp rose
_Rosa setigera_; Prairie rose


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## Tidgy's Dad

Lovely thread.
Thanks for these updates.


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## Oxalis

Here is my list of seeds (so far) from Burpee.

Hollyhock, Fordhook Giants Mix, Malva Real
Echinacea, Purple Coneflower, Equinacea
Coreopsis, Mardi Gras
Viola, Johnny-Jump-Up
Pansy, Trimardeau Mix

After I plant everything, I'll see if there's room for more.  More photos to come!


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## Oxalis

Here are a couple photos of Steve exploring the new garden! Haven't had a chance to cover all the bricks with dirt yet -- it's been a busy week!! Should be picking up my baby native plants next Saturday, woot!


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## Tidgy's Dad

Looks good so far.
But careful Steve doesn't dig under or climb over it.
You know what Russians can be like.


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## johnsonnboswell

He can climb chicken wire.


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## Oxalis

Tidgy's Dad said:


> You know what Russians can be like.


Yes: very good at making trouble!!!


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## Oxalis

johnsonnboswell said:


> He can climb chicken wire.


Really? That wouldn't surprise me with him being a crazy Russian escape artist! When I took him outside yesterday though, it looked like he wouldn't be able to climb to the top of the fence, so I think we'll be OK. It's 12'' high.


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## johnsonnboswell

Did you cap the corners? Corners are designed for escape.


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## Oxalis

Thanks to @Odin's Gma, I used the idea to dig out a hide, surround it with bricks, and then put one on top. Here's Steve checking out the area:




Here's the finished hide, with a nice slope down to it:




I picked up some extra dirt and placed the rest of our bricks around as basking rocks. The flamingo is back too! Here's the north end of the garden:




The tortoise sculpture is back too; I just have to wash off the water dish and all that's left is the chicken wire. I had to order best fit chicken wire online so I'm waiting for it to arrive at the store. We'll have to design and build a door as well but then it's just gardening and planting seeds after that -- next Saturday!! So stay tuned!


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## Odin's Gma

That is wonderful! Steve looks very pleased.


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## Oxalis

Odin's Gma said:


> That is wonderful! Steve looks very pleased.


He should be; he's super spoiled!!


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## DawnH

He looks in awe of his new digs!! Great job!


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## Team Gomberg

I really like what you have done!


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## Oxalis

Team Gomberg said:


> I really like what you have done!


Thanks, everyone!  Wait till July -- I bet it'll be a jungle again!

I have a question (for anyone) regarding the tortoise hide. Is there a worry that it could flood? I plan to take him inside when it rains anyway; just curious though. Thanks!


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## WillTort2

Yes, it could flood, but you can eliminate that issue by rebuilding it on top of a hill. Just add a few buckets of top soil.

You could still have an escape issue! I would suggest trenching about a foot deep around the outside walls and then fill that with concrete. The quik-crete stuff should work fine. The material cost would be very cheap.


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## Odin's Gma

Oxalis said:


> Thanks, everyone!  Wait till July -- I bet it'll be a jungle again!
> 
> I have a question (for anyone) regarding the tortoise hide. Is there a worry that it could flood? I plan to take him inside when it rains anyway; just curious though. Thanks!



I was concerned about ours too, even though we have pretty sandy soil and flooding is uncommon, so I mixed some gravel in the top inch of the soil. But I will still be watching it carefully.


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## lynnedit

Oxalis said:


> Sorry for the late reply! I plan on making the garden even better this year! I was wondering if you were referring to drilling holes into a terra cotta saucer. Is this easy; does it often cause the saucer to crack? Nesting two saucers sounds like a great idea as well!! Thanks again for the tip!



You can use plastic or terra cotta saucers. I have been able to drill into the Terra cotta saucers w/o any problem. I suppose a relatively new/sharp drill bit is helpful.


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## Oxalis

Odin's Gma said:


> I was concerned about ours too, even though we have pretty sandy soil and flooding is uncommon, so I mixed some gravel in the top inch of the soil. But I will still be watching it carefully.


Sounds great! He'll be coming inside when it's rainy too.


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## Oxalis

Yey, the chicken wire finally came in to True Value, which we only picked because it worked out best for our enclosure size. We haven't put it up yet because we're also in the middle of landscaping the rest of our backyard...  Anyway, although it was a bit cooler out this evening, but I couldn't resist taking Steve out to check on the progress of his tortoise castle; besides, he seemed restless! Of course, he went right for his cave to explore!!




He took a look around then immediately tried to start burrowing into the bricks!! 



Then he took a look out at his kingdom.



Thought maybe he'd come out, but then he headed right back into his hide.



Here's the garden so far... only 2 more days till I can get my plugs in! I think Steve likes it so far.



Here's Stevie with his statue.



The enclosure from our upstairs window. You can see my lounge chair on the deck, Stevie's water dish (have to wash it a bit more first), the compost bin in the top left corner, and a couple garden spaces where we've put down pine bark mulch.  Not bad, eh?


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## Turtulas-Len

When you put the chicken wire up, if you are not able to pull it tight everywhere there is a tool that works great to tighten up any loose areas. It is a "cotter key extractor". (Insulators call them lacing needles), there is a couple designs (shapes). from my experience the one with the double bend is easier to work with, (probably because that's what I started with years ago) They both do the job. You just slide it under a wire and catch a wire towards the slack area and bring it towards the first wire and loop it over from underneath to hook it in place pulling the slack out. you can make it as taunt as you want. I have a hard time trying to explain things but if you have a lacing needle and some chicken wire it might make sense.


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## Odin's Gma

Steve's enclosure is coming along beautifully and he looks very impressed! I love the statue! I nearly picked one up myself the other day but managed to reign myself in, but..... I am running errands in a bit and you never know what fun stuff I will come home with for my little buddy.


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## Oxalis

Today's the big day! We picked up our plants from the farmers market and we'll attaching the chicken wire and making the enclosure door. The plant guy forgot to bring out the cactus so I will have to pick that up another day. I'm having fun with the staple gun! XD Here's the chicken wire so far:







And our little plugs:



I'll be removing a lot of the dirt before planting these, but they were grown without chemicals so I'm not too worried. More photos to come later tonight!!!


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## Odin's Gma

That is going to be wonderful! I can't wait to see it all planted and grown later in the summer! (mine too  )


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## Oxalis

Here is our enclosure with the door on!! Whoo!! My boyfriend is amazing for building this! 




Here we've added the chicken wire on the door, but we're pooped now! We spent about 7 hours in the yard so now it's movie time! Tomorrow we'll finish covering the enclosure with chicken wire, and now that all the plants are in, the rabbits will keep out of Steve's food.


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## Oxalis

Steve has been having quite the crazy time pacing back and forth along the north wall; not sure why...  He's even made his own path! Meanwhile, I finished planting all of my seeds today, and I hope they sprout very soon! We plan to put up the remaining chicken wire tomorrow after work since it should be a bit cooler then (plus our feet will have more time to rest!). It is quite humid and unpleasant now.




The Michigan native plants seem to quite happy to be in the ground already, as they should be tolerant of our layers of clay and unpredictable climate! Below you can see a geranium bud that I noticed earlier today. It's already starting to open now!


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## leigti

One suggestion that I would make would be to round off the corners so he does not dig there or climb, they can climb up the 90° angle very easily. Here is a picture of what I mean.


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## Oxalis

leigti said:


> One suggestion that I would make would be to round off the corners so he does not dig there or climb, they can climb up the 90° angle very easily.


Very cool, thanks! We've been thinking about what we want to do in the corners, and we'll probably just put a small board across it. We just have to get around the 4'' x 4'' posts.  I was mostly concerned about getting the chicken wire up since I know that rabbits live under our back deck and didn't want them to eat all my baby plants!


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## leigti

I took those pictures before all the weeds grew in. Now it looks like a rain forest and I'm going to have to go pull half of them.


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## Oxalis

leigti said:


> I took those pictures before all the weeds grew in. Now it looks like a rain forest and I'm going to have to go pull half of them.


I hear that! I will have to keep an eye on the Testudo Mix this year so they don't get too messy like they did last summer. We built the enclosure taller for some of the plants though. I didn't want to restrain their growth.


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## Oxalis

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone! So no work on Monday and an extra day to relax with the tortoise in the sunshine! 

Steve has been doing a lot of pacing and running around in his enclosure, but I think once the plants get bigger, he will start paying more attention to those tasty treats! At least, that's what happened last year. So, like last year, I purchased another bag of organic compost manure to kick-start the plant growth. No pesticides here! I sprinkled the manure over the dirt (when Stevie was in his indoor enclosure) and we'll check up on it again soon. Steve is not one to eat his own substrate, so I'm too concerned about him with the manure, but I have been keeping an eye on him lately -- mostly to make sure that he doesn't eat the poor, tiny seedlings to the ground!!




Look at me, Mommy!!! 




Here is our almost finished enclosure now, just after an evening watering. I just have to finish "stitching" together the sheets of chicken wire so everything will be closed. I'm about halfway done, but stitching the roof will be the hardest part... since it's 8 feet tall! Otherwise, I think it looks great! The chain was added to the door to help hold it together. I also put some extra plain dirt around the outside walls to cover up some of the ground (the level was too low).




And now that I am covered in dirt, it's off to a well deserved, cool shower and bedtime!  Goodnight!


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## Momof4

Looks really nice!! Kudos for having such a nice boyfriend!!


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## Oxalis

*ALL DONE!* It is completely finished! Today I finished "stitching" together all the sheets of chicken wire and added a few extra staples for good measure. The little dude is completely secure now. As you can see, we found some extra 1'' x 2'' boards to keep between the chicken wire holes that will help cap off the corners -- just in case.  He has been trying to climb a lot the past couple of days and has been unsuccessful in getting off the ground at all.




Here's Stevie walking along the wall... again. You can see I have staples every so often in the top of the wooden board so it's all super secure!




And there's Steve enjoying the late afternoon sun before his mommy takes him inside for the night.




All finished!!  Now for a celebratory drinkie: Cactus Juice!




And now to try to be patient as the plants grow!


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## leigti

It looks good. All my plants of come in now so I'm pulling half of them out this weekend. The poor tortoise can't even walk around there so thick. Now you can really get fancy with the enclosure. Try some logs or large rocks to make a site barriers. If he can't see from one end of the enclosure to the other it will feel much bigger to him. You can add dirt here and there to make some hills and varied terrain. My tortoise likes to dig under a large piece of bark. Russians seem to like to hike up and around and over things. It's good for them and keeps them a little entertained. I really like designing and fixing up the enclosures.


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## parrotlady

Nicely done!


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## Oxalis

leigti said:


> Now you can really get fancy with the enclosure. Try some logs or large rocks to make a site barriers. If he can't see from one end of the enclosure to the other it will feel much bigger to him. You can add dirt here and there to make some hills and varied terrain. My tortoise likes to dig under a large piece of bark. Russians seem to like to hike up and around and over things. It's good for them and keeps them a little entertained. I really like designing and fixing up the enclosures.


Thanks, I really like these suggestions! I'll have to plan more fun things for him!


----------



## DawnH

Love it!! Just beautiful and you can feel the love!


----------



## Odin's Gma

Oxalis said:


> And now to try to be patient as the plants grow!


Love it! I am also impatiently waiting for the plants to grow, but with the miserable rainy week we are having I imagine next weekend it will look like a jungle!


----------



## Oxalis

Odin's Gma said:


> Love it! I am also impatiently waiting for the plants to grow, but with the miserable rainy week we are having I imagine next weekend it will look like a jungle!


We are really waiting for a great rainstorm too! There should be some rain headed for us in the next couple days.  When it comes to the plants growing, I keep telling myself, "a watched pot never boils"!


----------



## Oxalis

Finally some rain to help the plants grow!!


----------



## Oxalis

Plants are really growing after all the rain and now some sun. 

Finally got my baby cactuses!  They are from the western counties of the state, right off Lake Michigan, where the soil is much sandier. Ours here is mostly clay. Haven't decided whether/how to plant them. Any ideas? ...


----------



## leigti

I would just plant them in a pot outside. Any small plant that goes into a Russian tortoises enclosure usually doesn't get to be a big plant.


----------



## sibi

Great enclosure. He's so plump had happy-looking. The only concern I have is the these little guys are great climbers at corners. I wonder if you'll just place him in the enclosure when you can watch him, or is this his 24/7 enclosure? If it's his 24/7 enclosure , what about predators at night?


----------



## Oxalis

sibi said:


> The only concern I have is the these little guys are great climbers at corners. I wonder if you'll just place him in the enclosure when you can watch him, or is this his 24/7 enclosure? If it's his 24/7 enclosure, what about predators at night?


No worries, he comes indoors when it rains and at night as well as when we're not home for hours at a time. He has a great indoor enclosure in his own bedroom! ;D

The corners are capped too now, although he has not been able to reach up to the top of the fence yet.


----------



## DawnH

Your flamingo looks very concerned about the cactus....LOL!!!


----------



## Oxalis

The tortoise enclosure now has a solar-powered lantern, yey!  I think they're cute.




And here's the little dude emerging from his cave, ready to go inside for the night.


----------



## Oxalis

The garden has really exploded, and I went away last weekend so I was unable to pull out a bunch of the Testudo Mix plants until Sunday. They were taking over the garden and I worried about my baby native plants getting out-competed. So Sunday I pulled a bunch of them out (which had huge taproots), and planted a bunch of new stuff (since I don't know where my seeds went...). Anyway, the two yellow flowers are _Coreopsis_ plants.




Despite our nasty storm last night that woke us up at 1 in the morning, all the plants survived and the hollyhock still bloomed! It's the big one in the middle with the pink and white flowers. To the right is a small plant with yellow flowers, which is yet another _Coreopsis_ plant. Behind that is the purple coneflower, which is native to Michigan. 




The big plant in the front is my _Hibiscus moscheutos_, which is one of the two native Michigan _Hibiscus_ species.  I was so happy to finally find it but I didn't get a chance to put it in the ground until this past Sunday.


----------



## Oxalis

Here are some photos of our garden from late June. It's working on obtaining "jungle" status now!! XD


----------



## Yelloweyed

I like how everything is taking off growing.

My garden patch had the same "problem" with the seed mix. Had to go in and pull some weeds to make room for my little tort to walk around.


----------



## Oxalis

Yelloweyed said:


> I like how everything is taking off growing. My garden patch had the same "problem" with the seed mix. Had to go in and pull some weeds to make room for my little tort to walk around.


Yeah, it really exploded! Steve really likes the plants in the seed mix, so that's good. This year I'm just trying to monitor how many seed pods spread. If the weather is nice this weekend, I'll have a chance to clean up more.


----------



## Mantissa3

Oxalis said:


> Yeah, it really exploded! Steve really likes the plants in the seed mix, so that's good. This year I'm just trying to monitor how many seed pods spread. If the weather is nice this weekend, I'll have a chance to clean up more.



Tortle resort, it's beautiful!


----------



## Mantissa3

Oxalis said:


> The tortoise enclosure now has a solar-powered lantern, yey!  I think they're cute.
> 
> View attachment 133670
> 
> 
> And here's the little dude emerging from his cave, ready to go inside for the night.
> 
> View attachment 133671




Happy little baby - so happy for you/him for the outdoor time!


----------



## Mantissa3

Oxalis said:


> *ALL DONE!* It is completely finished! Today I finished "stitching" together all the sheets of chicken wire and added a few extra staples for good measure. The little dude is completely secure now. As you can see, we found some extra 1'' x 2'' boards to keep between the chicken wire holes that will help cap off the corners -- just in case.  He has been trying to climb a lot the past couple of days and has been unsuccessful in getting off the ground at all.
> 
> View attachment 131236
> 
> 
> Here's Stevie walking along the wall... again. You can see I have staples every so often in the top of the wooden board so it's all super secure!
> 
> View attachment 131237
> 
> 
> And there's Steve enjoying the late afternoon sun before his mommy takes him inside for the night.
> 
> View attachment 131238
> 
> 
> All finished!!  Now for a celebratory drinkie: Cactus Juice!
> 
> View attachment 131239
> 
> 
> And now to try to be patient as the plants grow!




You are doing an amazing job keeping the little guy! I love seeing people that throw themselves into providing a healthy, good lifestyle for their torties- kudos to you and thank you for posting these wonderful pics of Steve's garden and enclosure. It gives me ideas for my upcoming landscaping, of course taking my two into consideration even while building a sitting garden in the afternoon shade. :>)


----------



## Oxalis

Mantissa3 said:


> You are doing an amazing job keeping the little guy! I love seeing people that throw themselves into providing a healthy, good lifestyle for their torties- kudos to you and thank you for posting these wonderful pics of Steve's garden and enclosure. It gives me ideas for my upcoming landscaping, of course taking my two into consideration even while building a sitting garden in the afternoon shade. :>)


Thanks so much! Steve is like our child since we don't want kids, so he gets all of our attention! And we're glad to give it too because we love animals a ton. We also feed the birds and are hoping to bring in some butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats into our yard someday. The landscaping is slow-going but lots of fun -- and includes a lot of native Michigan species. There were some poor choices made in the types of trees around our house, so some of them we'll have to replace, so now the backyard feels a little bare until the pine trees can really grow in.

Anyway, I always feel like I can do more for Steve. He came from what I assume was a nice nuclear family that had a lot of other priorities so perhaps he didn't get all the attention that he needed. He certainly didn't get the best nutrition before, as evident in his shell. But now he has a varied diet in his garden and can pick and choose what all he wants. Maybe someday his enclosure will have a bigger tree for more shade. I'm thinking a "rose tree" bush for next summer. Maybe I'll add more pebbles, alter the terrain a little, and maybe even add a wooden bench so I can sit with him; who knows?  I'll always be trying to improve!


----------



## DawnH

Oxalis said:


> Thanks so much! Steve is like our child since we don't want kids, so he gets all of our attention! And we're glad to give it too because we love animals a ton. We also feed the birds and are hoping to bring in some butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats into our yard someday. The landscaping is slow-going but lots of fun -- and includes a lot of native Michigan species. There were some poor choices made in the types of trees around our house, so some of them we'll have to replace, so now the backyard feels a little bare until the pine trees can really grow in.
> 
> Anyway, I always feel like I can do more for Steve. He came from what I assume was a nice nuclear family that had a lot of other priorities so perhaps he didn't get all the attention that he needed. He certainly didn't get the best nutrition before, as evident in his shell. But now he has a varied diet in his garden and can pick and choose what all he wants. Maybe someday his enclosure will have a bigger tree for more shade. I'm thinking a "rose tree" bush for next summer. Maybe I'll add more pebbles, alter the terrain a little, and maybe even add a wooden bench so I can sit with him; who knows?  I'll always be trying to improve!



I think this is one of my favorite pastimes! Tweaking the tort garden!! I get SO many wonderful ideas at 2am!!


----------



## Oxalis

More blooms! Here's another shot of the mallow before Stevie finally started chowing down on it. Once he tried it, he realized it was delicious!!


----------



## Oxalis

I was awake early enough this morning to see the evening primrose still in bloom. As the sun made its way higher in the sky, the flowers began to close up. The plant is already past 4 feet tall -- and almost as tall as I am!!





The red _Hibiscus_ is in bloom too. 




Today I'm working on tearing out the Testudo Mix or radish-looking plants in favor of my natives and smaller plants. I realized that these plants were just too overpowering, and that they would over-compete the rest of my smaller plants completely out of existence. Some I have already lost, including a prairie rose (_Rosa setigera_). I would rather Steve have more variety and less cover if the water is shared more equally between plants. So Steve has been a little confused as to why his mommy is removing so much of his cover, but hopefully this keeps his garden more sustainable in the future. In the process, I have uncovered various weeds, and since I am unable to identify them, out they go! I have already filled one lawn bag. There are a lot of bare spots now but I did find another _Geranium_, some pansies, and hens and chicks to plant today. I have been coming inside to the AC for many breaks already; we have a high of 89°F with 52% humidity, which is not all that comfortable for lots of gardening in direct sunlight. I hope to post more photos later!


----------



## Oxalis

Here's most the garden now. Less overgrown weeds and more colorful flowers! I'm thinking about just spreading clover seed over the rest of the open dirt spaces. I got two _Coreopsis_, hens and chicks, an _Aster_, two bluebells (_Campanula_), a lovely _Geranium_, and a unique _Viola_. (I'll have to take more photos tomorrow!)




Here's a pretty Aster and a white variety of bluebells (_Campanula_). Steve already showed interest in the _Aster_! ;D




My other _Campanula_ and hens and chicks:




I love this one _Coreopsis_; it reminds me of fireworks:


----------



## Oxalis

More pretty pictures! Here's my _Geranium_ -- good thing I took a picture; it helped me to find a weed in it. I think the flowers are very nice! I got a lot blue and purple colored flowers for the garden.




Here's my orange _Coreopsis_.




I moved the _Spirea_ to the corner where I was able to get the roots down deeper. As you can see, it's not in the best shape and it wasn't when I first saw it at the store either -- which is why I got it on sale.  But maybe moving the plant will help save it. Plus it should make great cover for Steve. He already likes it:




Today I ended up buying a "toadstool" statue -- somewhere for me to sit in the garden with the baby. I got one bag of landscaping rocks put them in piles around the garden to give Steve something to climb over (good for those crazy Russians!). The white _Aster_ on the left is new too, but I actually don't plan on adding anything else to the garden for a while!




I redid the cave a little to raise it out of the ground a little bit and threw some rocks under it, which Steve really enjoyed. Notice the cucumber plant on the right has some flowers!! ;D




And now the tortoise mommy will be on lookout for rogue weeds...!!


----------



## Oxalis

First snowfall on the outdoor tortoise enclosure! The little birdies can still fit through the spaces in the chicken wire to look for seeds on the evening primrose. The poor little flamingo and lantern are covered. Should be more snow falling tonight too.







The view from our upstairs bedroom. I like how the chicken wire roof looks like waffle fries with the snow on it! XD




I held Stevie up to the window so he could see the blizzard. I think he's happy to be inside where it's warm and cozy.


----------



## Prairie Mom

Gorgeous Photos! What a beautiful enclosure


----------



## Oxalis

2016 seeds to plant in the tortoise garden (so far), purchased from lovely native suppliers, Prairie Moon Nursery!

Common blue violet (_Viola sororia_)
Prairie violet (_Viola pedatifida_)
Tall bellflower (_Campanula americana_) - maybe one that grows up (as a stalk) will be more difficult for the tortoise to destroy!


----------



## Oxalis

One of this year's challenges is to help curb the tortoise pacing back and forth along the north wall! We can't seem to figure out the reasoning behind it but we don't want little Steve to be stressed outside either. We built a tunnel for him and it seemed to help distract him a little. We'll have to experiment more when it gets warmer and he can go back outside.


----------



## spud's_mum

How do you grow the plants that well?!!

Spud has no plants in his outdoor enclosure at the moment as I'm still deciding weather to plant straight into the enclosure or in seed trays?
My only worry about growing straight into the enclosure is that they won't have a chance to grow as Spud will destroy them. I can only get my seed mixes to seedlings 
Also, how long does it take to get the seeds to a decent plant size?

I might grab a load of plants from the garden centre and wait for the chemicals to grow out. 

Sorry for all the questions!


----------



## Oxalis

spudthetortoise said:


> How do you grow the plants that well?!!
> 
> Spud has no plants in his outdoor enclosure at the moment as I'm still deciding weather to plant straight into the enclosure or in seed trays?
> My only worry about growing straight into the enclosure is that they won't have a chance to grow as Spud will destroy them. I can only get my seed mixes to seedlings
> Also, how long does it take to get the seeds to a decent plant size?
> 
> I might grab a load of plants from the garden centre and wait for the chemicals to grow out.
> 
> Sorry for all the questions!


No worries! I love plant questions! My fiance is planning on going for the title of "master gardener," so I ask him when I don't know something.  Where do you live? An important part of planting outdoors is knowing your region's "hardiness zone": http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ {if you live in the U.S.)

Have you tried evening primrose (_Oenothera biennis_)? It is native to Michigan so it's perfectly adept at thriving in our odd weather changes! Mine was about an inch or so tall in the spring when I planted it and about 5 feet tall by late summer of the same year. I'm a big advocate of native plants because they're better for the local animals and ecosystem.  Let me know if you have some space outside to plant and I can help you locate some tortoise-safe natives for your area.


----------



## spud's_mum

Oxalis said:


> No worries! I love plant questions! My fiance is planning on going for the title of "master gardener," so I ask him when I don't know something.  Where do you live? An important part of planting outdoors is knowing your region's "hardiness zone": http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ {if you live in the U.S.)
> 
> Have you tried evening primrose (_Oenothera biennis_)? It is native to Michigan so it's perfectly adept at thriving in our odd weather changes! Mine was about an inch or so tall in the spring when I planted it and about 5 feet tall by late summer of the same year. I'm a big advocate of native plants because they're better for the local animals and ecosystem.  Let me know if you have some space outside to plant and I can help you locate some tortoise-safe natives for your area.


I'm in the uk so weather is quite chilly. I have got a couple of seed mixes and I managed to grow nasturtium last year (that were taken over by aphids  ) I have seed strays and planters and spuds outdoor enclosure available to plant in, although I fear that if I plant straight into the enclosure, the seedlings will be destroyed.
Thanks for the help!


----------



## JoesMum

spudthetortoise said:


> I'm in the uk so weather is quite chilly. I have got a couple of seed mixes and I managed to grow nasturtium last year (that were taken over by aphids  ) I have seed strays and planters and spuds outdoor enclosure available to plant in, although I fear that if I plant straight into the enclosure, the seedlings will be destroyed.
> Thanks for the help!


What you need is a 'cold frame'/mini greenhouse like this for growing your seeds on.


----------



## Oxalis

JoesMum said:


> What you need is a 'cold frame'/mini greenhouse like this for growing your seeds on.


I would love one too!!!!


spudthetortoise said:


> I'm in the uk so weather is quite chilly. I have got a couple of seed mixes and I managed to grow nasturtium last year (that were taken over by aphids  ) I have seed strays and planters and spuds outdoor enclosure available to plant in, although I fear that if I plant straight into the enclosure, the seedlings will be destroyed.
> Thanks for the help!


There are a quite a few gardeners on here with aphid trouble! Arg, those buggers!! You can always make sure your plants are well established before transplanting them into the tortoise enclosure. My Russian has such a large selection (the total space outdoors is 96 square ft) that he hasn't eaten any plants down to the ground ... yet.  I think having a lot of choices can help with that.

Nina and Lin on The Tortoise Table will be super helpful for you as they're based in the UK as well.


----------



## spud's_mum

JoesMum said:


> What you need is a 'cold frame'/mini greenhouse like this for growing your seeds on.


I used to have a couple... I forgot to water the plants and they died 



Oxalis said:


> I would love one too!!!!
> 
> There are a quite a few gardeners on here with aphid trouble! Arg, those buggers!! You can always make sure your plants are well established before transplanting them into the tortoise enclosure. My Russian has such a large selection (the total space outdoors is 96 square ft) that he hasn't eaten any plants down to the ground ... yet.  I think having a lot of choices can help with that.
> 
> Nina and Lin on The Tortoise Table will be super helpful for you as they're based in the UK as well.


Thank you!
I wish I could have a selection big and healthy plants like yours for spud  I will keep trying! I think I may have to resort to garden centres and wait for the chemicals to grow out.


----------



## JoesMum

spudthetortoise said:


> I used to have a couple... I forgot to water the plants and they died


Even the ones from garden centres need watering set a reminder on your computer or phone so it nags you to do it every day!


----------



## spud's_mum

JoesMum said:


> Even the ones from garden centres need watering set a reminder on your computer or phone so it nags you to do it every day!


I normally don't have to water the seeds because of the rain but when they were under cover I completely forgot. If I get another then I will have to set reminders.


----------



## Oxalis

spudthetortoise said:


> I normally don't have to water the seeds because of the rain but when they were under cover I completely forgot. If I get another then I will have to set reminders.


That's a good idea to set an alarm. I'm actually somewhat bad at remembering to water my indoor plants. My fiance mostly takes care of those for me  but my outdoor plants seem to grow just fine with little maintenance from me. Remember that planting natives in your area will demand less maintenance from you. They have evolved to survive in your area and require less water and no chemicals or pesticides.  They'll save you money! I found some good articles about natives you may enjoy:


http://www.plantnative.org/how_benefits.htm
http://www.audubon.org/content/why-native-plants-matter
https://www.nps.gov/plants/restore/pubs/intronatplant/whyusenatives.htm

I did a basic Google search for native UK plants. The "British Flora" website below is an excellent list! Make some time to click around and do some reading. It can take a bit of research, but it's definitely worth it in the end! I see elm trees on the list, which are deemed safe by The Tortoise Table. As far as smaller plants go, rose leaves and flowers make great tortoise treats too. _Campanula_ are safe and tasty. Chicory (_Cichorium intybus_) is a weed here that usually grows on road sides. I transplanted one into my tort garden and never have to worry about maintaining it!  _Geranium_ is also quite hardy and requires little maintenance. Hawkbit (_Leontodon autumnalis_; _Leontodon hispidus_) and goat's beard (_Tragopogon spp._) also appear on the list, and a lot of tort keepers feed this to their little ones. _Malva_ is also one of my favorites as the flowers are beautiful too. Plantain (_Plantago major_) is another weed that's easy to maintain. Forget-me-not (_Myosotis spp._) has no evidence of toxicity. (I'm still on the search for a _Myosotis laxa_, which is a Michigan native.) I also see violets and pansies (_Viola spp._) on the list; tortoises love them. These are all plants I would recommend to beginner tort gardener, the weeds especially. You have some great native plants on that list! Be careful not to pick any in the wild that may be endangered though!


http://www.britishflora.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Plant-Lists-Britishflora-Wildflowers.pdf
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=848
http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/native.html


----------



## JoesMum

Oxalis said:


> That's a good idea to set an alarm. I'm actually somewhat bad at remembering to water my indoor plants. My fiance mostly takes care of those for me  but my outdoor plants seem to grow just fine with little maintenance from me. Remember that planting natives in your area will demand less maintenance from you. They have evolved to survive in your area and require less water and no chemicals or pesticides.  They'll save you money! I found some good articles about natives you may enjoy:
> 
> 
> http://www.plantnative.org/how_benefits.htm
> http://www.audubon.org/content/why-native-plants-matter
> https://www.nps.gov/plants/restore/pubs/intronatplant/whyusenatives.htm
> 
> I did a basic Google search for native UK plants. The "British Flora" website below is an excellent list! Make some time to click around and do some reading. It can take a bit of research, but it's definitely worth it in the end! I see elm trees on the list, which are deemed safe by The Tortoise Table. As far as smaller plants go, rose leaves and flowers make great tortoise treats too. _Campanula_ are safe and tasty. Chicory (_Cichorium intybus_) is a weed here that usually grows on road sides. I transplanted one into my tort garden and never have to worry about maintaining it!  _Geranium_ is also quite hardy and requires little maintenance. Hawkbit (_Leontodon autumnalis_; _Leontodon hispidus_) and goat's beard (_Tragopogon spp._) also appear on the list, and a lot of tort keepers feed this to their little ones. _Malva_ is also one of my favorites as the flowers are beautiful too. Plantain (_Plantago major_) is another weed that's easy to maintain. Forget-me-not (_Myosotis spp._) has no evidence of toxicity. I also see violets and pansies (_Viola spp._) on the list; tortoises love them. These are all plants I would recommend to beginner tort gardener, weeds especially. You have some great native plants on that list!
> 
> 
> http://www.britishflora.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Plant-Lists-Britishflora-Wildflowers.pdf
> https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=848
> http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/native.html


You'll be lucky to find an Elm Tree. I'm afraid they're scarce due to Ditch Elm Disease striking about 40 years ago. 

The commonest stuff growing wild that's easy to find is dandelion, plantain and clover. Joe is also partial to buttercups (I don't pick them, they grow in the lawn despite my best efforts to slow their spread), bindweed and clematis leaves. 

I did buy white clover seed and scatter that in a couple of patches of the lawn. It took a couple of years to establish, but is growing well now.


----------



## Oxalis

JoesMum said:


> You'll be lucky to find an Elm Tree. I'm afraid they're scarce due to Ditch Elm Disease striking about 40 years ago.
> 
> The commonest stuff growing wild that's easy to find is dandelion, plantain and clover. Joe is also partial to buttercups (I don't pick them, they grow in the lawn despite my best efforts to slow their spread), bindweed and clematis leaves.
> 
> I did buy white clover seed and scatter that in a couple of patches of the lawn. It took a couple of years to establish, but is growing well now.


I feel your pain on the elm trees. Here in Michigan, the emerald ash borer (insect) killed a lot of ash trees. Luckily my parents' ash tree is still kickin'! My Russian does love the dandelion too!!

The Tortoise Table has clematis and buttercup under their "do not feed" list, so I'd be careful with those!


----------



## JoesMum

Joe has helped himself to buttercuos for the last 46


----------



## JoesMum

JoesMum said:


> Joe has helped himself to buttercuos for the last 46


Phone  

Joe has helped himself to buttercups for the last 46 years and they ain't killed him yet. I cannot possibly get rid of them. The clematis likewise.


----------



## JoesMum

Everything in moderation is the key.


----------



## Oxalis

JoesMum said:


> Phone
> 
> Joe has helped himself to buttercups for the last 46 years and they ain't killed him yet. I cannot possibly get rid of them. The clematis likewise.


Wow! 


JoesMum said:


> Everything in moderation is the key.


This is so true! It's one reason I have so many options available for my Steve. He's becoming more open-minded with his tastes too (something which I refuse to do ). Buttercup, I think, is one of those plants that tort keepers have mentioned feeding and not bothering the torts at all, while there's at least one story of a tort dying that happened to have eaten some buttercup before its death. I have so many other plants that I know are safe that I can easily skip this one and not worry about it. But "everything in moderation" is perfect to describe the tort diet as a good variety is generally the key.  Well said!


----------



## Prairie Mom

Just popping in to say this thread is cool


----------



## Oxalis

Prairie Mom said:


> Just popping in to say this thread is cool


Thanks!! I'm glad spring is finally here!! Got my baby mulberry in the mail today and planted it. I like it so far.


----------



## Prairie Mom

Oxalis said:


> Thanks!! I'm glad spring is finally here!! Got my baby mulberry in the mail today and planted it. I like it so far.
> 
> View attachment 170310


----------



## Oxalis

Prairie Mom said:


> View attachment 170313


Awesome! I covered my mulberry with a bucket last night to protect it from the frost. I can't wait for him to start growing!!  It's almost time I've planted my many seeds as well...


----------



## Oxalis

Planted some _Centaurea cyanus_ seeds in the enclosure today. Hopefully they grow and provide some good color whenever they flower.  I'd have put more seeds down today but I'm pretty whipped from work!


----------



## Prairie Mom

Oxalis said:


> Planted some _Centaurea cyanus_ seeds in the enclosure today. Hopefully they grow and provide some good color whenever they flower.  I'd have put more seeds down today but I'm pretty whipped from work!


OH CORNFLOWER! I had to google what the heck you were talkin' 'bout


----------



## Oxalis

Prairie Mom said:


> OH CORNFLOWER! I had to google what the heck you were talkin' 'bout


Hehe!!! I'll try to remember to include generic names as well. My fiancé is going for "master gardener" so we talk about plants in with their scientific names now. Also, it's how I can ensure that I'm planting safe plants for my baby.


----------



## Prairie Mom

Oxalis said:


> Hehe!!! I'll try to remember to include generic names as well. My fiancé is going for "master gardener" so we talk about plants in with their scientific names now. Also, it's how I can ensure that I'm planting safe plants for my baby.


A Master Gardener! Sounds like a keeper


----------



## Oxalis

Prairie Mom said:


> A Master Gardener! Sounds like a keeper


Oh, he definitely is! 

Today I planted seeds for _Campanula americana_ (tall bellflower), _Viola sororia_ (common blue violet), and _Viola pedatifida_ (prairie violet). These are all native Michigan species.  I'm hoping the baby mulberry bush I recently planted bounces back. It looks like it will. It seems to be a little "in shock" from being in the mail for a day and being transplanted. I put down some tasty manure for my plants too. Still waiting for the last frost to officially pass though.

In other tortoise garden news, Steve is still pacing along the walls (mostly the northern wall). The link shows his crazy behavior, but I realize it's more serious now. My hope is that when the plants grow bigger, he won't be pacing as much since they'll be sight barriers. Waiting for that is the hard part. He looks absolutely unnerved as if he's more comfortable indoors. Hopefully things really start growing soon!!


----------



## Prairie Mom

Oxalis said:


> Oh, he definitely is!
> 
> Today I planted seeds for _Campanula americana_ (tall bellflower), _Viola sororia_ (common blue violet), and _Viola pedatifida_ (prairie violet). These are all native Michigan species.  I'm hoping the baby mulberry bush I recently planted bounces back. It looks like it will. It seems to be a little "in shock" from being in the mail for a day and being transplanted. I put down some tasty manure for my plants too. Still waiting for the last frost to officially pass though.
> 
> In other tortoise garden news, Steve is still pacing along the walls (mostly the northern wall). The link shows his crazy behavior, but I realize it's more serious now. My hope is that when the plants grow bigger, he won't be pacing as much since they'll be sight barriers. Waiting for that is the hard part. He looks absolutely unnerved as if he's more comfortable indoors. Hopefully things really start growing soon!!


Sounds like a nice collection of flowers.

Since you planted the mulberry directly from the box, it may not be used to sunlight. What do you think...Stick and umbrella over it for a while and see if it perks up?


----------



## Oxalis

Prairie Mom said:


> Sounds like a nice collection of flowers.
> 
> Since you planted the mulberry directly from the box, it may not be used to sunlight. What do you think...Stick and umbrella over it for a while and see if it perks up?


Yeah, we were covering it for a little while but the buds look like they're finally starting to come around.  I think tomorrow I'll really be able to tell. He's been getting extra water too. I named him Morris since his scientific name is _Morus rubra_. XD I know, I'm terrible!


----------



## Oxalis

_Geranium_ is coming along nicely. 




Here are a couple photos of Steve outside on Friday. He got some good sunshine time in today too!




I can't wait for his plants to grow more! He looks sad as though he's thinking, "What happened to my buffet?"




Here's the silly boy trying to burrow into the wall.




After a while, he walked away and then tried to burrow into another wall...


----------



## Oxalis

More tort garden tweaking!  I had some photos from last night but the evening light was no good. We had lots of lovely sunshine today though.

I moved my mushroom "chair" to the corner near the door where I can easily sit and watch Steve play outside. I shifted a brick around to better suit the front entrance of the garden too. The purple Geranium in bloom (middle of photo) is new; transplanting it didn't seem to bother it at all.




In the giant mushroom's place is the rose tree I wanted to purchase last year. I'd have gotten the one with more purple flowers but the pink is apparently slightly more cold-hardy. Hubby dislikes that it's a non-native rose, but it provides good shade for Stevie, and when it rains rose petals, he'll think he's died and gone to tortie heaven!  The small raised-bed garden of raspberry bushes is in the background.




Last season Steve had a hole in the ground for a hide but now I've raised it up and added a little wooden house on top of two bricks. The hide last year had too much flooding so we'll see how a small hill does this summer. I added 2 or 3 bags of dirt to the area! I also tried to remove some dandelion from the garden before it takes over everything.




Stevie checks out his new house. He tried to burrow into the corner of it! 




The small tunnel we threw together to try to prevent Steve from pacing along the north wall has helped a little. He seems to stop and rest under there, especially since there's a tasty dandelion plant growing right under it. We may build a couple more along the wall or some sort of "canopy." Hubby also had an idea -- to plant _Carex_ sp. grasses (safe for the tortie and native to Michigan) along the north wall, with the thinking that Stevie can see the wooden wall and that is making him crazy. Not sure why only the north wall, but maybe some grasses to hide it could help? Any feedback on that is always welcome.




Here's my view from the lounge chair on the deck. It was a great day for a sun nap.  I love hammocks.


----------



## Oxalis

Today I planted some wild bergamot (_Monarda fistulosa_) seeds from PrairieMoon.com. When we were at Lowe's for dirt, I found a little baby tears stonecrop (_Sedum album_) for the garden and planted it.  I covered the rest of the open space with white Dutch clover seed from Burgess. Plenty of extra clover seeds!


----------



## Oxalis

I've had a cold for the last few days and am just now starting to feel better so I can post some updates on the tortie garden! 

We recently visited Wildtype Nursery in nearby Mason, MI, to purchase several native plants for the yard (hubby bought more than I did). He was taking so long looking at all the plants that I just started grabbing a few more tortoise-safe plants. I also got a milkweed and Michigan lily plant for the butterfly garden in our front yard. Here's most of what I bought:

Wild petunia (_Ruellia humilis_)
Rose mallow (_Hibiscus moscheutos_)
Tall bellflower (_Campanula americana_)
Heart-leafed aster (_Aster cordifolius_)
Sand coreopsis (_Coreopsis lanceolata_)
Short's aster (_Aster shortii_)
Hairy hawkweed (_Hieracium gronovii_)
Big leaf aster (_Aster macrophyllus_)
Woodland phlox (_Phlox divaricata_)
Russian hunger gap kale (veggies were $1)

Because I got sick right when we arrived at home, I didn't have the energy to put the plants in the ground for a couple days. A few plants were drooping a little but they've all perked up since. Go natives!

Here's the evidence: I once had cute little pansies! They're gone now. ^_^




Using old bricks, I tried to make a small sight barrier and wall so he doesn't walk in straight lines as much. He kind of uses the spot to stop and make sure the coast is clear before moving on. Or for destroying some dandelions.




The monkey flower (_Mimulus ringens_) came back like an absolute nut. I did not see that coming in its second year. Stevie can officially "swim" in his greens now.






Still waiting for my hibiscus to come back. I guess I was only supposed to prune the edges of the branches?




He's getting more used to his cinder blocks tunnel. 




Got a terra cotta pot with a small crack in it? Not useless anymore!




Here's the view from my little mushroom bench. I thought potential gardeners might enjoy some handy labels!




The clover is clearly everywhere. 

When I bought this aster, there must have been some grass growing in the same pot with it. I finally separated the grass out; hopefully the little guy grows bigger now that he doesn't have to compete.




More photos of Steve exploring:








When the tortoise heads for cover under the _Spirea_ bush, it may be time for bed.


----------



## Prairie Mom

Oxalis said:


> I've had a cold for the last few days and am just now starting to feel better so I can post some updates on the tortie garden!
> 
> We recently visited Wildtype Nursery in nearby Mason, MI, to purchase several native plants for the yard (hubby bought more than I did). He was taking so long looking at all the plants that I just started grabbing a few more tortoise-safe plants. I also got a milkweed and Michigan lily plant for the butterfly garden in our front yard. Here's most of what I bought:
> 
> Wild petunia (_Ruellia humilis_)
> Rose mallow (_Hibiscus moscheutos_)
> Tall bellflower (_Campanula americana_)
> Heart-leafed aster (_Aster cordifolius_)
> Sand coreopsis (_Coreopsis lanceolata_)
> Short's aster (_Aster shortii_)
> Hairy hawkweed (_Hieracium gronovii_)
> Big leaf aster (_Aster macrophyllus_)
> Woodland phlox (_Phlox divaricata_)
> Russian hunger gap kale (veggies were $1)
> 
> Because I got sick right when we arrived at home, I didn't have the energy to put the plants in the ground for a couple days. A few plants were drooping a little but they've all perked up since. Go natives!
> 
> Here's the evidence: I once had cute little pansies! They're gone now. ^_^
> 
> View attachment 174218
> 
> 
> Using old bricks, I tried to make a small sight barrier and wall so he doesn't walk in straight lines as much. He kind of uses the spot to stop and make sure the coast is clear before moving on. Or for destroying some dandelions.
> 
> View attachment 174223
> 
> 
> The monkey flower (_Mimulus ringens_) came back like an absolute nut. I did not see that coming in its second year. Stevie can officially "swim" in his greens now.
> 
> View attachment 174224
> 
> View attachment 174225
> 
> 
> Still waiting for my hibiscus to come back. I guess I was only supposed to prune the edges of the branches?
> 
> View attachment 174226
> 
> 
> He's getting more used to his cinder blocks tunnel.
> 
> View attachment 174227
> 
> 
> Got a terra cotta pot with a small crack in it? Not useless anymore!
> 
> View attachment 174230
> 
> 
> Here's the view from my little mushroom bench. I thought potential gardeners might enjoy some handy labels!
> 
> View attachment 174229
> 
> 
> The clover is clearly everywhere.
> 
> When I bought this aster, there must have been some grass growing in the same pot with it. I finally separated the grass out; hopefully the little guy grows bigger now that he doesn't have to compete.
> 
> View attachment 174231
> 
> 
> More photos of Steve exploring:
> 
> View attachment 174232
> 
> View attachment 174234
> 
> View attachment 174235
> 
> 
> When the tortoise heads for cover under the _Spirea_ bush, it may be time for bed.
> 
> View attachment 174233


Impressive!!! I love it!


----------



## Oxalis

Prairie Mom said:


> Impressive!!! I love it!


Thank you!!  All worth it for my Stevie.


----------



## Yvonne G

This is a nice thread. I've thoroughly enjoyed your pictures and commentary.


----------



## Oxalis

Yvonne G said:


> This is a nice thread. I've thoroughly enjoyed your pictures and commentary.


Thanks, Yvonne! All thanks to the many gardeners on the forum.


----------



## Oxalis

We were lucky here in Michigan to have a lovely weekend of sunshine and ~70°F degree weather on both Saturday and Sunday. Steve had a lot of fun being outdoors after such a long stretch of days since waking from hibernation. He got lots of exercise, vitamin D, fresh air, and tasty greens.  I'll be sure to post more photos as the plants grow bigger. I'm hoping for a real jungle this summer!


----------



## Amron

Great thread, I have found it interesting and informative, thank you. I'm going to look up native plants to my area now


----------



## Oxalis

Here are some updated photos from this sunny and hot Memorial Day weekend! Here's the entire garden now:




The clover are really taking over, so I've been going in every few days and grabbing handfuls of them to decrease their numbers. Here's Stevie hiding under his _Spiraea_, which has really become a great natural hide for him. Tortie butt!




The mulberry is still very small, but the leaves have been growing and getting bigger.  Do these grow slower? I always try to give him extra water so he grows faster but I don't know if it's actually helping. Maybe his second season here he'll really sprout. I haven't seen Steve try his leaves yet, but I hope he really loves them. Maybe I'll pick him some when the plant's bigger to give him a taste test.




The evening primrose (_Oenothera biennis_) from last year is still around. I figure it provides some shade and the finches enjoy the seeds (and there are still many). I'm pretty sure that all the little seedlings around the bottom of it are also evening primrose! I'm not sure how they'll all going to compete to get 5' tall, but we'll see. It might be crazy...




Here's Stevie this morning, enjoying the sun between lots of shade breaks. I think he's finally getting used to his garden and feeling safer.  And the terra cotta dish in the back to the far left is full of fresh water, FYI. 




Here's the first blossom this year of his native _Geranium_. I just bought another native _Geranium_ from the Wildtype Nursery but I'm not sure if it will bloom this first season. I just love the color of this one though!!




It closes at night. 




My _Spiraea_ has a ton of buds this year, so safe to say I kept it alive! I expect some pretty pinkish flowers this summer.




Another shot of the garden. There's a native rose bush in the back and a giant hollyhock in front of that (to the left of the flamingo). The monkey flower (_Mimulus ringens_) has exploded this year (in front of the flamingo).  I have lots of aster varieties too; I just love the blue-purple flowers they have!




Stevie's really been making use of his house too. He's learned that it provides some excellent shading and cooler temps!




Here's his shady spot from this morning. At one point, he had his legs out and yawned like he was about to nap. 






And here he is by my rock collection. I think he's really enjoying himself outside and is getting better at trying new foods. Although he's been particularly crazy about dandelion this year!


----------



## Oxalis

Mommy, I killed the kale plant!


----------



## Oxalis

Temps are in the mid-90s for the past week. Utilizing Ikea's "bed canopy" to provide Steve with some shade from the heat. He loves to hide in that corner of the enclosure. He's been getting some showers from the hose too.


----------



## terryo

I love you little Russian and his beautiful garden. Every pet store I go into I see some poor Russian sitting there in such terrible conditions. The are very common here and sold in all the pet stores. I always wish I could rescue one and make a home for him. Your tortoise is so lucky to have such a wonderful garden to live in. You did an amazing job.


----------



## Oxalis

terryo said:


> I love you little Russian and his beautiful garden. Every pet store I go into I see some poor Russian sitting there in such terrible conditions. The are very common here and sold in all the pet stores. I always wish I could rescue one and make a home for him. Your tortoise is so lucky to have such a wonderful garden to live in. You did an amazing job.


Awww, thanks! I noticed the Petco by our house has stopped selling Russian tortoises, thankfully. They do a horrible job in maintaining their temps and humidity, there's clearly not enough space for them there, and they feed them some horrible food-dyed pellets that look like dog food (but you wouldn't feed to your dog)!  Poor little guys... Maybe someone complained -- I hope so!


----------



## KaitlinKeefe_

this is beautiful! gives me ideas for next spring 

my little guys NEED an outdoor badly


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## Oxalis

KaitlinKeefe_ said:


> this is beautiful! gives me ideas for next spring
> 
> my little guys NEED an outdoor badly


I recommend looking into native Vermont plants and cross-referencing that list against what's considered safe tortie food on The Tortoise Table. That was how I determined what plants would work best for my yard. In the process, I learned that we have a couple Michigan native _Hibiscus_ species, and _Opuntia_ cactus! 

Here are a couple sources to get you started:

Gardening with Vermont Native Plants: http://vcgn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/nativeplantgardeningsummarylistfinal.pdf

Native Plant List for New Hampahire, Maine & Vermont: http://www.plantnative.org/rpl-nen.htm


----------



## KaitlinKeefe_

Oxalis said:


> I recommend looking into native Vermont plants and cross-referencing that list against what's considered safe tortie food on The Tortoise Table. That was how I determined what plants would work best for my yard. In the process, I learned that we have a couple Michigan native _Hibiscus_ species, and _Opuntia_ cactus!
> 
> Here are a couple sources to get you started:
> 
> Gardening with Vermont Native Plants: http://vcgn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/nativeplantgardeningsummarylistfinal.pdf
> 
> Native Plant List for New Hampahire, Maine & Vermont: http://www.plantnative.org/rpl-nen.htm




thank you so much that's such a great idea


----------



## Oxalis

Just taking a few minutes of my homework-filled day to upload a few older photos... Here's the native rose in Steve's garden when it finally bloomed. It's since finished now, but my miniature rose is still going. 




Here's some of the crazy hollyhock blooms. The biggest stalk here is about 4 feet tall. There's a light pink one blooming now.




Here's the entire garden maybe about two weeks ago. The big hollyhock stalk behind the door has now reached the garden ceiling (that's about 8 feet tall)!




Here goes little Stevie, running past his _Campanula_!




The _Hibiscus syriacus_ in the back of the yard has bloomed, so Stevie got a flower as a treat. Lucky little cutie!


----------



## Oxalis

Here are some photos of Stevie out enjoying his garden earlier this evening:






I just did a bit of weeding (finally!), but as you can see, everything's growing pretty darn well this year (despite a lot less rain too). Clearly the evening primrose has taken over and it's hogging a lot of space. A lot of that is my fault because I haven't pulled any of it to give the others some room.  Amazingly, one of the asters is reaching up for the sun behind a bunch of primrose. Who knows—maybe it will be a little stronger from that competition. They're both native plants anyway. 

Also: my native _Hibiscus moscheutos_ has some buds and is about to bloom!! Photos SOON!


----------



## Oxalis

Here's Stevie, out and playing in 90°F+ heat! Silly tort! Today is very hot and humid but Steve doesn't mind at all.




Here are those _Hibiscus moscheutos_ buds, which I hope bloom soon. They are the "Luna Red" variety and should be the size of dinner plates!  They were very lovely last year made great tortoise treats.


----------



## HappyHermanns

Oxalis said:


> Here's a photo of our new outdoor enclosure and garden for Steve. It's 8 feet x 12 feet. As a tip: I did find that the wood was much cheaper from the outdoor gardening section rather than the lumber section of the hardware store (they're fencing planks from Lowe's). As of now, we have the walls up and some of the dirt put in. I'll have to get a bit more dirt, and then I have a couple bags of manure that can go in when I start planting. I have a small list of plants that I know Steve loves, but feel free to add any suggestions! Cheers to a new growing season (at least here in Michigan)!
> 
> View attachment 79616
> 
> 
> My amazing boyfriend put together the walls so he got me the best tortoise Mother's Day gift!!!  I will post more photos as our garden grows!



I love it! We have been trying to get a dog crate finished for them but things happen and we have to put it off  we are definitely doing something like yours next year!


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## Oxalis

Hibiscus buds about to open! I will get another photo tonight!


----------



## HappyHermanns

Oxalis said:


> Hibiscus buds about to open! I will get another photo tonight!



Awesome!

I've had one open about once a week these past couple of weeks.
Boy, do our guys LOVE them!! It is so fun to watch them "dig in"!


----------



## Oxalis

HappyHermanns said:


> Awesome!
> 
> I've had one open about once a week these past couple of weeks.
> Boy, do our guys LOVE them!! It is so fun to watch them "dig in"!


Very cool! The flower didn't quite open all the way, but it was still about the size of my Russian tort! ;D


----------



## Oxalis

Good thing I got some photos in the sun yesterday; it's quite cloudy now. Tortie and flower comparison:




Lots more buds!!





And another cute tort photo:




Here's the entire garden now. The evening primrose is out of control! Steve loves eating the flowers as they fall to the ground. We're excited to plant the seeds from it in other places in our yard when it's done flowering.


----------



## TerrapinStation

Wowsers, just got caught up on this.

Looks awesome. Congratulations and thanks for sharing. 

Very impressive & your dedication is inspiring.


----------



## Oxalis

TerrapinStation said:


> Wowsers, just got caught up on this.
> 
> Looks awesome. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.
> 
> Very impressive & your dedication is inspiring.


Many thanks! Let me know if you have any questions about native gardening. 

Yesterday:




All the plants loved the sunshine. Little Stevie stopped by to say hi to Mommy!




And then Mommy went back to work on Monday and was sad. XD Here's the garden today (with bonus tiki sign!):




Now all the neighborhood torts will know where the tiki party's at.


----------



## MichaelaW

I admire your garden so much! How much watering do you do? I'm always on the lookout for drought tolerant wildflowers.


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## Oxalis

MichaelaW said:


> I admire your garden so much! How much watering do you do? I'm always on the lookout for drought tolerant wildflowers.


We recently went through quite a dry period and just this past week received some rain. I would try to water a bit on the dry days, but if I missed it, I didn't feel too bad.  Our native plants are quite used to the odd Michigan climate. If you're interested in some Illinois natives, I've found a list of nurseries that you might enjoy: http://grandprairiefriends.org/nurseries.php I have been to a couple on the Michigan list (in fact I'll be at one this Saturday too). 

And because I'm a librarian, you might also find these helpful: Illinois recommended plants from the Wildflower Center: https://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=IL and an Illinois Native Plant Guide from the USDA, which honestly looks a little cool albeit a good chunk of reading: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/il/plantsanimals/?cid=nrcs141p2_030715

I take plant lists and cross-reference them against The Tortoise Table. At first, I was surprised to find so many natives that are tort-safe! Besides plantain and dandelion, many of them are in the rose, aster, and mallow families. The flowers make great tort treats while providing your yard with some lovely color. Another benefit: some natives birds enjoy will enjoy the seeds too. Goldfinches love my evening primrose seeds and don't bother Steve at all.


----------



## TerrapinStation

@Oxalis In your professional opinion, would a Fig tree survive in Michigan climate? or would it have to go indoors/garage over the winter?

We had a crazy spring (life-wise), and never had a chance to plant the flowers and vegetables we had planned on. we have an area ready in the yard, but did not utilize it this year. Will definitely be stealing some of your ideas for next year......


----------



## Oxalis

TerrapinStation said:


> @Oxalis In your professional opinion, would a Fig tree survive in Michigan climate? or would it have to go indoors/garage over the winter?
> 
> We had a crazy spring (life-wise), and never had a chance to plant the flowers and vegetables we had planned on. we have an area ready in the yard, but did not utilize it this year. Will definitely be stealing some of your ideas for next year......


My dad has a fig tree in his backyard (here in southern Michigan) and it is planted in the ground outside and makes it through the winter. I will ask him if he covers it for cold nights or anything but I don't think so. I think I remember him saying that the fig tree has weird years where it produces more fruit than other years and he can't seem to figure out why. I'm not sure which species he has, but I would recommend _Ficus carica_ (which is likely the one he has). Michigan is one of the states where it has been introduced and it's not marked as "invasive" or anything.  So it should be able to withstand our mighty winters!

Steal away!  Providing this oasis for my tort has been one of the best hobbies I've ever had!!


----------



## Oxalis

TerrapinStation said:


> @Oxalis In your professional opinion, would a Fig tree survive in Michigan climate? or would it have to go indoors/garage over the winter?


Here's the response from my dad about his fig tree. (He's known for his green thumb in the family.) 


> I usually prune it down in the late fall and then cover it with leaves. Some of the old timers would cover the entire tree in plastic but whatever. Try to get it planted in a very sunny area. Be patient with it because it doesn’t come up right away in the spring.


----------



## Knap_123

This is a fantastic thread


----------



## Oxalis

Knap_123 said:


> This is a fantastic thread


Thank you! 

Here's Stevie playing outside today. Find the tort!


----------



## Pearly

How did i miss such great thread?! Love it!!!! @Oxalis I love your tort garden! And where did you get the tortoise crossing sign???!!! I need one!!!! It's too funny! Love it!


----------



## klawran1

I've been following this since you started the enclosure. I absolutely love how grown up it is. I'm working on my Russian's pen now and we have a long way to go to get that much to grow, but I have hope! It looks great.


----------



## Oxalis

Pearly said:


> How did i miss such great thread?! Love it!!!! @Oxalis I love your tort garden! And where did you get the tortoise crossing sign???!!! I need one!!!! It's too funny! Love it!


Thanks!!!  Here's the tort Xing sign from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXM9FUK/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 As you can see, the image doesn't exactly match my sign (not sure how that happened) but it'll do.


klawran1 said:


> I've been following this since you started the enclosure. I absolutely love how grown up it is. I'm working on my Russian's pen now and we have a long way to go to get that much to grow, but I have hope! It looks great.


Thanks so much for the kind words! I couldn't have done it without all the help from my finance (he'll officially be hubby next month)!  It took a long time to get where it is now, but I always recommend utilizing some plants native to your area to increase your garden's sustainability. Many of them make great tort food, although my Steve almost never passes up a good dandelion leaf. Natives can lower the amount of maintenance you put into the garden, saving you lots of stress!  Everything in here grew so fast. Stevie will never go hungry again!

There's Stevie today, smiling for his mama!


----------



## Oxalis

Stevie sunning this morning. This is his spot!





The beautiful fall colors in the garden yesterday: asters, rose, _Coreopsis_, and even some _Spirea_ has bloomed again.


----------



## klawran1

He's a precious boy. I need to make sure I don't show Zoya this post.. He may try to move out on me.


----------



## Oxalis

A couple photos from a week ago. Stevie enjoying a flower from Hubby's _Hibiscus moscheutos_ 'Kopper King'. Delicious!




Steve getting some sunbathing time in:


----------



## BILBO-03

Do you have to get new plants every year?


----------



## Tidgy's Dad

Oxalis said:


> A couple photos from a week ago. Stevie enjoying a flower from Hubby's _Hibiscus moscheutos_ 'Kopper King'. Delicious!
> 
> View attachment 187654
> 
> 
> Steve getting some sunbathing time in:
> 
> View attachment 187655


Lovely photos.
Does Hubby mind Stevie eating all his prize blooms ?


----------



## Yvonne G

I p


Oxalis said:


> The beautiful fall colors in the garden yesterday: asters, rose, _Coreopsis_, and even some _Spirea_ has bloomed again.
> 
> View attachment 186810



I planted some coreopsis in the box turtle yard just to add some color. It was the first time I dealt with this plant. I really like it.


----------



## Oxalis

BILBO-03 said:


> Do you have to get new plants every year?


Most of the tortoise plants are perennials and native to Michigan, so they come back on their own each year and are well adapted to our climate.  They also support the local wildlife; right now, the goldfinches are flying through the chicken wire to eat the evening primrose seeds. They love them!


Tidgy's Dad said:


> Lovely photos.
> Does Hubby mind Stevie eating all his prize blooms ?


There are plenty to go around for little Stevie!! 


Yvonne G said:


> I p
> 
> 
> I planted some coreopsis in the box turtle yard just to add some color. It was the first time I dealt with this plant. I really like it.


Yeah, they're fairly low maintenance over here. Sometimes I will dead-head them, but other times I just leave them and haven't noticed a difference in the plant.


----------



## Oxalis

Finally spring has started to bloom here in Michigan. The temperature got up to around 70°F (21°C) today, so little Stevie got to play outside in his garden. 







While Stevie got in his exercise, I started cleaning out some of the dead plants and leaves from last year. Steve found some tasty dandelion near his mulberry bush. The mulberry got a couple handfuls of some brand new compost from our backyard bin (as well as soon tortie poopies), so I'm hoping it has a great year! I also removed the rose plant on the right side of the photo so the mulberry should receive more sun.




Here's the garden when I decided I was done for the day. Steve is still out in the sunshine for a little while longer. Soon he'll have many new plants growing too. I can't wait to do some planting!


----------



## BILBO-03

Looks good!


----------



## Oxalis

BILBO-03 said:


> Looks good!


Thanks!! I'm glad we put a roof over his head as the neighborhood hawk was circling today...


----------



## terryo

He's a lucky little guy to have all that space to explore and enjoy. Every time I go to the pet store there is some poor Russian tortoise in a little tank and he can't even get in his water dish. Wish I could take them all home. Your enclosure will be fabulous when the Summer comes and he will love it.


----------



## Maggie Cummings

Hey, there's terryo our resident enclosure expert.......hi terry....how are ya? Things here in Oregon are just freakin wonderful. I don't need sun, or a decent freeway, or a decent lawn...lol, things are ok here and all the animals are fine. I've got 4 Sulcata now....I am going to keep one of them and find a better home for the other 3. I know how much you'd love having a big tortoise ruin your beautiful enclosures. I have 15 box turtles now 4 of them are mine. Lookin for homes for the rest maybe. I'll email you, don't wanna hijack this thread......


----------



## terryo

maggie3fan said:


> Hey, there's terryo our resident enclosure expert.......hi terry....how are ya? Things here in Oregon are just freakin wonderful. I don't need sun, or a decent freeway, or a decent lawn...lol, things are ok here and all the animals are fine. I've got 4 Sulcata now....I am going to keep one of them and find a better home for the other 3. I know how much you'd love having a big tortoise ruin your beautiful enclosures. I have 15 box turtles now 4 of them are mine. Lookin for homes for the rest maybe. I'll email you, don't wanna hijack this thread......


E-mail me....I've missed you!


----------



## Oxalis

terryo said:


> He's a lucky little guy to have all that space to explore and enjoy. Every time I go to the pet store there is some poor Russian tortoise in a little tank and he can't even get in his water dish. Wish I could take them all home. Your enclosure will be fabulous when the Summer comes and he will love it.


Thank you for the kind words! You will have to return to this thread in July when I post the "jungle" photos. The garden will be crazy at that time of year. 

We have a Petco within walking distance and I usually see two Russians in one small glass tank with multicolored pellet food and subpar substrate. It's almost inhumane. I've seen them bicker a bit before but they're almost always asleep. The temps and humidity are way off; I think they're usually too cold in there. Their shells have such small growth, which has me thinking their diets are too high in protein and too low in fiber.  I wish I could take them all home too.


terryo said:


> E-mail me....I've missed you!


Awww, cute reunions! I'm happy my thread could accommodate.


----------



## terryo

Here's my turtle garden in the Winter, and here it is toward the end of Summer....everything in full bloom. My Dad raised box turtles and his garden was 5 times bigger than mine with a beautiful pond. When you looked out his kitchen window, you never knew it was a turtle garden.....just a beautiful flower, fruit and veggie garden. You could always peak in between the plants a see a turtle eating fruit, or a veggie.


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## Oxalis

terryo said:


> View attachment 203155
> View attachment 203156
> Here's my turtle garden in the Winter, and here it is toward the end of Summer....everything in full bloom. My Dad raised box turtles and his garden was 5 times bigger than mine with a beautiful pond. When you looked out his kitchen window, you never knew it was a turtle garden.....just a beautiful flower, fruit and veggie garden. You could always peak in between the plants a see a turtle eating fruit, or a veggie.


I love it!  What kind of flowers do you have there? Usually the chicken wire around the walls and ceiling of my garden gives it away, otherwise it's just a backyard garden with mostly Michigan native plants with some other tortie treats!


----------



## Oxalis

A quick photo update of Steve, on the move, exploring this year's garden! More updates to come.


----------



## Oxalis

Steve's native _Geranium_ is in bloom. I love the beautiful little purple flowers.




Here's the little star! Let's reward his cuteness with a dandelion flower.


----------



## Oxalis

Had a lovely sunny and hot day, perfect for the tortoise! And @Turtulas-Len is awesome!! Here are the new spineless _Opuntia_ this morning, happy in the sunshine:




Later on:




And when the tortoise mommy had her back turned (with a turtle guard):




More photos!  Two of my geraniums are growing well and blooming. Stevie's in the background.







The rose tree adds some nice color as well:




I didn't feel super great today but I was still able to get some things done I've been wanting to do. I moved some stones around, moved in a couple new pavers so hubby and I could have more space to walk around, I relocated a couple plants, removed a lot of clover, and I tied back the rose tree as it was starting to fall over. Next I'd like to move out some of my more aggressive asters so they free up some space for other plants.





Steve's enclosure now has _Opuntia_ and sedum. Woo hoo!


----------



## Oxalis

Outside the tortoise enclosure, the mini rose bush is overgrown but has some lovely blooms now too. Steve occasionally gets a flower treat when he's been a good boy.  Someday I'll prune the darn thing. 




Stevie ate well today and is getting quite a lot of variety in his diet now.  Hopefully our new plants will be able to take root before Steve chows them down! The plantain (_Plantago_ sp.) is growing excellently this year, which is always a good high-fiber option. He is one super spoiled tortoise, and that's the way it should be.


----------



## Oxalis

Happy Fourth of July from Steve the Russian tort and his parents.


----------



## mshine1217

What an inspiring thread. Thank you for sharing.


----------



## Oxalis

mshine1217 said:


> What an inspiring thread. Thank you for sharing.


Thanks for reading!


----------



## Oxalis

Here are some photo updates; better late than never. 

The hens and chicks bloomed, which was a surprise to me. I didn't know they could grow upward in a stalk; just didn't think of it. Very cool. They're really liking their space in the tort garden and Steve has even nibbled on them a little bit.




The _Hibiscus moscheutos_ 'Luna Red' bloomed more this year, with its typical giant flowers. Compare the size to the plastic flamingo! 




Steve has been almost swimming through a sea of green plantains, which have sprung up everywhere. Silly me, thinking I could yank out some of their seeds and somehow keep them from spreading!  I've been pulling a lot of them now so they don't smother other plants. Steve enjoys their leaves.




His favorite lately though has been chicory. He just loves the leaves and goes for them or dandelion first! I loved seeing these plants explode with flowers this past month. They are my definitely my favorite wildflower. 




"Back to work weeding my buffet, human servant!" Steve's excuse for not helping out is a lack of opposable thumbs. Pssh!


----------



## Oxalis

*September 2017:*

The native asters are in bloom!  Both the large bush on the left with white flowers and the bush in the bottom right with deep purple flowers are from Lowe's, but the rest are native species. All did pretty well this year except for those hit by powdery mildew, which appeared on some of the asters' bottom leaves, but mostly on the plantain. I'll be tearing out a lot for the fall.




This native phlox I recently added just bloomed as well, although the photo doesn't do it justice. The flowers are a little more pink/purple than in the picture.




The praying mantis stopped by on the giant white aster. I watched him for a while hoping I'd get to see his crazy bug attack, but eventually I had to eat dinner. 




Two mantids! I guess the aster was the place to be.




There's a lot of buzzing among the asters now, and I take careful steps in and out of Steve's garden so as not to disturb all the bumbles! Mister Honeybee even stopped by!!




There's still one bellflower that Stevie hasn't eaten.




Stevie relaxing earlier:




Ninja power!


----------



## Aeva

Oxalis said:


> *September 2017:*
> 
> The native asters are in bloom!  Both the large bush on the left with white flowers and the bush in the bottom right with deep purple flowers are from Lowe's, but the rest are native species. All did pretty well this year except for those hit by powdery mildew, which appeared on some of the asters' bottom leaves, but mostly on the plantain. I'll be tearing out a lot for the fall.
> 
> View attachment 218238
> 
> 
> This native phlox I recently added just bloomed as well, although the photo doesn't do it justice. The flowers are a little more pink/purple than in the picture.
> 
> View attachment 218239
> 
> 
> The praying mantis stopped by on the giant white aster. I watched him for a while hoping I'd get to see his crazy bug attack, but eventually I had to eat dinner.
> 
> View attachment 218240
> 
> 
> Two mantids! I guess the aster was the place to be.
> 
> View attachment 218242
> 
> 
> There's a lot of buzzing among the asters now, and I take careful steps in and out of Steve's garden so as not to disturb all the bumbles! Mister Honeybee even stopped by!!
> 
> View attachment 218241
> 
> 
> There's still one bellflower that Stevie hasn't eaten.
> 
> View attachment 218249
> 
> 
> Stevie relaxing earlier:
> 
> View attachment 218262
> 
> 
> Ninja power!
> 
> View attachment 218263
> 
> 
> View attachment 218264


I'm really enjoying your thread. I ran across all your pictures and think Steve is a really lucky tort. There is really a bright side in having so much seasons and making changes in your enclosure all year ! You are really doing a great job. Where I am there is almost no winter or summer, quite boring... lol. Kisses to your little cutie.


----------



## Oxalis

Aeva said:


> I'm really enjoying your thread. I ran across all your pictures and think Steve is a really lucky tort. There is really a bright side in having so much seasons and making changes in your enclosure all year ! You are really doing a great job. Where I am there is almost no winter or summer, quite boring... lol. Kisses to your little cutie.


Thank you, thank you!  Stevie is like my little son, so spoiling him is a gift for me as well!


----------



## Oxalis

I just spent some time looking back through my garden photos from the past few years as I prepare for a new gardening season. I can tell some of the plants will do better with a bit of tilling and some composted manure added in. I should have a good deal of compost in our bins at my disposal as well. We're apparently enduring one of our coldest springs in the last few decades. Steve is probably getting impatient waiting for it to warm up; I'll be happy if I find some buds before this month is out! This year I might also try more _Calendula_ and _Viola_ seeds.


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## MrMarg&me

I am looking forward to another season of photos and prose of Steve in his garden. Thank you for taking the time to share.


----------



## Oxalis

MissMarg&me said:


> I am looking forward to another season of photos and prose of Steve in his garden. Thank you for taking the time to share.


Thanks for the kind note! I looked outside this morning and decided that it's a great day to stay in! Hurray for Michigan ice storms in April!!


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## Oxalis

The ice fortress is melting ever so slowly.


----------



## Pearly

Loving your thread! Been off the forum for a while a missed a big chunk of your garden growth. Looked AWESOME last summer! Can’t wait to see your updates as things wake back up to life now. Steve is a lucky tort[emoji217]


----------



## Jay Bagley

Oxalis said:


> Thanks for the kind note! I looked outside this morning and decided that it's a great day to stay in! Hurray for Michigan ice storms in April!!
> 
> View attachment 236081


You sure weren't kidding about that ice storm. I'm here in Ottawa County Michigan, we were coming home from a wedding last night there were cars spinning out all over the highway last night. Your outdoor enclosure is very beautiful looking.


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## Oxalis

Pearly said:


> Loving your thread! Been off the forum for a while a missed a big chunk of your garden growth. Looked AWESOME last summer! Can’t wait to see your updates as things wake back up to life now. Steve is a lucky tort[emoji217]


Many thanks, @Pearly! You're awesome!


Jay Bagley said:


> You sure weren't kidding about that ice storm. I'm here in Ottawa County Michigan, we were coming home from a wedding last night there were cars spinning out all over the highway last night. Your outdoor enclosure is very beautiful looking.


Isn't living in Michigan great? I think Steve keeps wondering why he can't go outside yet...


----------



## Jay Bagley

LOL I know Sheldon hates it as well. Half inch of snow out there right now, I think they're calling for 50 by Thursday I believe and 60 by Friday or Saturday. So so looking forward to that


----------



## stephkesh

dmmj said:


> Looks good, needs hides and plants, and please cap those corners, those russians can climb.


This! They are crazy climbers. Enclosure looks beautiful, though!


----------



## Oxalis

Steve has _finally_ been able to go outside! Nothing stops the dandelions, so he's had plenty of those greens to eat as well as a few asters, evening primrose, and a geranium. He also found a new favorite area to burrow!


----------



## Oxalis

Steve's been able to spend more time outdoors lately!


----------



## Oxalis

Plants in the enclosure are still coming back to life after a cold winter. He has a new tall bellflower (_Campanula _spp.) and some yellow hawkweed I pulled from Steve's grandparents' yard. Hopefully these grow!




Mmmm, dandelion flower!


----------



## Oxalis

Oxalis said:


> He has ... some yellow hawkweed I pulled from Steve's grandparents' yard. Hopefully these grow!


Hawkweed is looking good after being transplanted.  More photos to come!


----------



## Oxalis

We just had a lot of rain but the sun finally returned. So the plants are all very happy! Stevie only got 3 new ones from WIldtype Nursery this spring: _Monarda fistulosa_ (bee balm); _Monarda punctata_ (horsemint); and _Mimulus ringens_ (monkey flower). Clearly his garden is short on space. 

There are sprouts everywhere! I'm pretty sure I threw some seeds down, so I'm waiting to see what plants come up before I start yanking them out. I've already removed some dandelions to make space for other plants. His coreopsis plants are all doing well (he has at least 3 varieties), but I'm not sure the coneflower is growing back.




Some of the plants are doing better than others since we had a late frost after the plants had started growing for the spring.  The mulberry bush only has one branch growing leaves at the moment, so I'm hopeful it recovers. (The mulberry is in the top left corner.) I'm doubtful his cactus made it through the winter though. The native asters reseeded very well, and a phlox is coming back with a vengeance.




The native geranium has already flowered. I love it!




Steve enjoyed dandelion flowers, as usual, and then played some hide-and-seek. He was having a shy day.


----------



## Oxalis

The geranium and hawkweed are blooming now.







The native _Hibiscus moscheutos_ has really taken off! In the back right is my leafless dwarf mulberry bush (_Morus rubra_), which may have been damaged by our late frost. :'(




Steve enjoyed some time outside before the rains came. We're currently experiencing our annual June "snow" of cottonwood seeds.







There were no dandelion survivors.


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## MrMarg&me

Just love your tort garden. Cute, cute pic of Steve snagging a dandelion flower. I am always happy when I find a new post of yours in my inbox. I read a lot of garden blogs. You have a tort garden! My favorite!


----------



## Oxalis

MissMarg&me said:


> Just love your tort garden. Cute, cute pic of Steve snagging a dandelion flower. I am always happy when I find a new post of yours in my inbox. I read a lot of garden blogs. You have a tort garden! My favorite!


Thanks so much! I never thought I'd enjoy gardening so much, until I found I could garden for my tortoise.


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## Maro2Bear

Looking great! Keep the updates coming. .....but i read that you were pulling up/out dandelions ? Say it aint so.


----------



## Millerlite

Neat enclosure, and awesome progress of the seasons. Your lucky you only have one hungry fella. My group keeps my grass and weeds down to dirt, I have to rotate sides to give them a chance to grow. haha. Your little russian seems like a happy little guy! 

Kyle


----------



## Oxalis

Maro2Bear said:


> Looking great! Keep the updates coming. .....but i read that you were pulling up/out dandelions ? Say it aint so.


Yup, only because the dandies had to be troublesome and grow in almost the same spot as some other plants.  But I promise Steve has plenty! There's always some plant that tries to take over the garden.


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## MrMarg&me

So I have this mysterious yellow flowering plant in our garden. My husband wanted to pull it. I had planted wildflower seed in the spring. Thanks to you I now know it is hawkweed! You never know where you will learn something.


----------



## Oxalis

MissMarg&me said:


> So I have this mysterious yellow flowering plant in our garden. My husband wanted to pull it. I had planted wildflower seed in the spring. Thanks to you I now know it is hawkweed! You never know where you will learn something.


I'm glad to hear that helped!!  The Tortoise Table also has some great volunteers who can help you identify plants as well: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/siteassets/forum/ I have a flower I'll need to post on there too (I have no idea how it got in my yard...).


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## shellandpenny

This enclosure is seriously goals!! Definitely helps having a handy man.. need to find me one of those first


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## Oxalis

shellandpenny said:


> This enclosure is seriously goals!! Definitely helps having a handy man.. need to find me one of those first


Having a handy man definitely does help get some tough work done!!


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## Oxalis

Stevie's garden is pretty much a jungle now, at least for him it is. I have not yet weeded since I've been so busy this year. Steve just needs to eat his plants faster.  I've already pruned the _Spiraea_ but it could still use another prune.




Here's Steve by some blooms. The lighter purple is a native phlox; the darker purple is a small geranium; and the yellow is a coreopsis. The giant leaves by the flamingo are from our many gourd seeds that we threw in the compost bin.




My native hibiscus is pretty tall now and has a few buds.  Every other bit of space is filled with asters, primrose, dandelion, and clover.


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## MrMarg&me

Beautiful! Lucky Steve!


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## daniellenc

Lucky guy!!


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## jylee1997123

Damn.. The enclosure is perfect... Love it <3


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## Oxalis

MissMarg&me said:


> Beautiful! Lucky Steve!





daniellenc said:


> Lucky guy!!





jylee1997123 said:


> Damn.. The enclosure is perfect... Love it <3


Many thanks! It's so fun to spoil my darling tortoise!


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## Oxalis

I have the umbrella out to provide Stevie with lots of shade today! We've had temps in the 90s all weekend with high humidity. I've also been watering the garden every so often through the day. Steve has been awesome doing his natural thing: resting in the shade until the temperature has dropped enough to walk around his enclosure more. This is a nice benefit to having a solitary pet; he doesn't need to learn this behavior from others in his species. Although I need to weed (when it cools down!) the plants provide a slightly cooler environment for little Steve too, since they lose water when they "exhale." Hence why our world needs more trees!


----------



## Maro2Bear

Oxalis said:


> Stevie's garden is pretty much a jungle now, at least for him it is. I have not yet weeded since I've been so busy this year. Steve just needs to eat his plants faster.  I've already pruned the _Spiraea_ but it could still use another prune.
> 
> View attachment 242472
> 
> 
> Here's Steve by some blooms. The lighter purple is a native phlox; the darker purple is a small geranium; and the yellow is a coreopsis. The giant leaves by the flamingo are from our many gourd seeds that we threw in the compost bin.
> 
> View attachment 242474
> 
> 
> My native hibiscus is pretty tall now and has a few buds.  Every other bit of space is filled with asters, primrose, dandelion, and clover.
> 
> View attachment 242473




You are hibiscus are looking pretty good there. Should be blooming soon!


----------



## Oxalis

Maro2Bear said:


> You are hibiscus are looking pretty good there. Should be blooming soon!


The hibiscus has lots of buds this year, so I can't wait!


----------



## MrMarg&me

More trees!!! A neighborhood with trees is more comfortable because of the shade and the exhalations of the trees. I think the term is transpiration. Not to mention the beauty they provide. Steve’s garden looks very inviting.


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## Oxalis

The native hibiscus bloomed!


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## Turtulas-Len

We have either all red or all white growing around here. I like what you have,very pretty. Your whole garden looks Great.


----------



## ShirleyTX

I found this thread today and read all 12 pages! It was fun to see you start with a BF, move on to fiancé, and then tie the knot.

The one year you had trouble with Stevie pacing the northern wall. Did that stop? Do you have a theory why?

Thank you for a great great thread!


----------



## Oxalis

Turtulas-Len said:


> We have either all red or all white growing around here. I like what you have,very pretty. Your whole garden looks Great.


Thank you!! The pale pink color should come from a native genotype of the _Hibiscus moscheutos_ species. I purchased it from Wildtype Native Plant Nursery, which offers a great deal of native Michigan genotypes.  It's so nice to have a unique, natural color.


ShirleyTX said:


> I found this thread today and read all 12 pages! It was fun to see you start with a BF, move on to fiancé, and then tie the knot.
> 
> The one year you had trouble with Stevie pacing the northern wall. Did that stop? Do you have a theory why?
> 
> Thank you for a great great thread!


Thank you for the kind words! We've both worked so hard to give Steve an awesome garden.  Steve does still pace a little bit, but we've noticed that he tends to do this less when the plants are fuller, such as during this time of year. This may just provide more sight barriers, but we're honestly still a bit lost on why he does this. Just this year, he's started pacing along the eastern wall, which is under his giant _Spiraea_ bush. Maybe he just doesn't like fences. I also don't think he paces every time he's outside; it's selective and may depend on the time of day. When it's hot out, he does rest in the shade and doesn't overexert himself. He doesn't _seem_ stressed to me, but I am no zoologist. Nevertheless, he is getting plenty of exercise, eating and sleeping well. This is the one thing he does that truly boggles our minds. 

So we just came home from a weeklong vacation to an utter jungle:




The squash plants are out of control and will need to be trimmed lest they kill the thinner weaker plants, like the asters, which they're clinging to. Their giant leaves are blocking out a lot of light for shorter plants. It's quite cramped in there! I have so much weeding to do. 




It looks like we'll have some nice aster blooms this fall. Still time for a bigger garden! 




I luckily did not miss my hibiscus blooms! Steve sure has an awful lot this year. And a tiki light.


----------



## Romeo Serback

Oxalis said:


> Good thing I got some photos in the sun yesterday; it's quite cloudy now. Tortie and flower comparison:
> 
> View attachment 184183
> 
> 
> Lots more buds!!
> 
> View attachment 184182
> View attachment 184185
> 
> 
> And another cute tort photo:
> 
> View attachment 184184
> 
> 
> Here's the entire garden now. The evening primrose is out of control! Steve loves eating the flowers as they fall to the ground. We're excited to plant the seeds from it in other places in our yard when it's done flowering.
> 
> View attachment 184187


Great thread and a fabulous setup! Through this, I have gotten a bunch of ideas. The thing I might do differently is to (if possible), segregate the different plants and weeds so it could look organized. I recently purchased the African grazer seeds from Tortoisesupply.com and I hope to separate the seeds and plant them in rows. I would also put the larger growing plants towards the edge and I might put pavers in between for separation so my leopard tortoise Lerato can walk in between and trim his nails in the process.


----------



## Oxalis

Romeo Serback said:


> Great thread and a fabulous setup! Through this, I have gotten a bunch of ideas. The thing I might do differently is to (if possible), segregate the different plants and weeds so it could look organized. I recently purchased the African grazer seeds from Tortoisesupply.com and I hope to separate the seeds and plant them in rows. I would also put the larger growing plants towards the edge and I might put pavers in between for separation so my leopard tortoise Lerato can walk in between and trim his nails in the process.


Thanks! It has been quite the learning experience. It was easier to start off with the plants organized but nature takes over pretty quickly!! For example, the birds enjoy eating the primrose seeds, spreading them everywhere in our yard. We're in the process of converting our yard to mostly native plants, so the primrose generally isn't too much of a concern. It's definitely in our plans (for our next house) to get a much bigger yard. This will allow Stevie a lot more space when he roams around outside. I would like to put a paver path back in too; I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I also tried the Tortoise Supply Broadleaf Testudo Mix, which provided a ton of seeds; and plants that grew very quickly! I ended up pulling most of them out as they aggressively crowded out other plants. Now Steve has much more variety in his garden, and I've been able to see him eat new plants on his own. It's very satisfying.


----------



## Romeo Serback

Oxalis said:


> Thanks! It has been quite the learning experience. It was easier to start off with the plants organized but nature takes over pretty quickly!! For example, the birds enjoy eating the primrose seeds, spreading them everywhere in our yard. We're in the process of converting our yard to mostly native plants, so the primrose generally isn't too much of a concern. It's definitely in our plans (for our next house) to get a much bigger yard. This will allow Stevie a lot more space when he roams around outside. I would like to put a paver path back in too; I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I also tried the Tortoise Supply Broadleaf Testudo Mix, which provided a ton of seeds; and plants that grew very quickly! I ended up pulling most of them out as they aggressively crowded out other plants. Now Steve has much more variety in his garden, and I've been able to see him eat new plants on his own. It's very satisfying.


Yes. Seeing how your enclosure became a little jungle (and quick), I wanted to avoid that. Lol I mean it wouldn't be too bad if I had two or more tortoises in there to thin it out, but it's not the case. I'm in your shoes as I just have one tortoise, my leopard (Lerato). I would love to do my enclosure like yours, but I have no carpentry skills. Lol But planning ahead, I will definitely research which plants grow the tallest and plant them accordingly. I also ordered the seed mix from tortoise supply. I assume that all the seeds are mixed together so when you planted them, you didn't know which was which. Well, I'm going to try to painstakingly separate them. Lol I'll let you know how that goes.


----------



## Oxalis

Romeo Serback said:


> Yes. Seeing how your enclosure became a little jungle (and quick), I wanted to avoid that. Lol I mean it wouldn't be too bad if I had two or more tortoises in there to thin it out, but it's not the case. I'm in your shoes as I just have one tortoise, my leopard (Lerato). I would love to do my enclosure like yours, but I have no carpentry skills. Lol But planning ahead, I will definitely research which plants grow the tallest and plant them accordingly. I also ordered the seed mix from tortoise supply. I assume that all the seeds are mixed together so when you planted them, you didn't know which was which. Well, I'm going to try to painstakingly separate them. Lol I'll let you know how that goes.


No carpentry skills needed.  On page 3 of this thread, you can see we basically dug some holes for the posts, and then screwed the cross beams together. I also included the sizes of the lumber I bought, which have held up great in the past few winters.

Weeding has still been necessary as seeds travel on the wind or via birds, and some of those plants aren't good for tortoises, so I like to play it safe and remove them. I use The Tortoise Table to research plants: http://thetortoisetable.org.uk

It would definitely be hilarious to have one Aldabra tort visit and just take down all the excess plants.  Stevie is just too small, but at least he won't run out of food!


----------



## Romeo Serback

Oxalis said:


> No carpentry skills needed.  On page 3 of this thread, you can see we basically dug some holes for the posts, and then screwed the cross beams together. I also included the sizes of the lumber I bought, which have held up great in the past few winters.
> 
> Weeding has still been necessary as seeds travel on the wind or via birds, and some of those plants aren't good for tortoises, so I like to play it safe and remove them. I use The Tortoise Table to research plants: http://thetortoisetable.org.uk
> 
> It would definitely be hilarious to have one Aldabra tort visit and just take down all the excess plants.  Stevie is just too small, but at least he won't run out of food!


Nice! I like your comment about the 8 ft height and how you didn't want to restrict the growth of plants. Lol Hindsight is 20/20. Did you chicken wire the top as well? And what kind of wire. Size and type, that is.


----------



## Oxalis

Romeo Serback said:


> Nice! I like your comment about the 8 ft height and how you didn't want to restrict the growth of plants. Lol Hindsight is 20/20. Did you chicken wire the top as well? And what kind of wire. Size and type, that is.


The chicken wire should be the standard size, which you can see here. I have a small amount of bird fencing around the very bottom of the walls just in case of rabbits. I picked it up at True Value, but stores like Lowe's and Home Depot have it too.


----------



## Romeo Serback

Good deal! I'll keep you updated next spring when I try it. I might just go 6 ft as I'm well below that height and should be able to walk about freely without hitting my head. Lol Thank you!


----------



## Oxalis

Romeo Serback said:


> Good deal! I'll keep you updated next spring when I try it. I might just go 6 ft as I'm well below that height and should be able to walk about freely without hitting my head. Lol Thank you!


It is nice to have some headroom. Good luck!


----------



## Oxalis

The asters have been in bloom again. Lots of native purples! 




The _Malva_ is still in bloom too; a nice color as the cooler temperatures approach.


----------



## Pearly

Oxalis said:


> The asters have been in bloom again. Lots of native purples!
> 
> View attachment 253837
> 
> 
> The _Malva_ is still in bloom too; a nice color as the cooler temperatures approach.
> 
> View attachment 253838



@Oxalis, I love your Tortoise Garden and envy the parts of your climate where things grow big and robust in the Summer and you don’t have to worry about where to plant your things so that your heat-tender plants don’t get beat up by the afternoon blaze in June/july/august. Over here it’s always a guessing game. That is unless you go with all the Texas natives... which are beautiful... but I do miss the beauty and fragrance of lilacs, peonies, jasmine, Poets’ Narcissus, apple tree blooms in a Spring, and those BIG asters and chrysanthemums (flowers size of head of cabbage) in a Fall. Here we are kind of in the middle, can’t go with tropicals either, due to those 3-5 days of freezing temps we typically get each Winter... and I hate dragging my big heavy pots in and out! Too much work. Too heavy... so I will just enjoy reading your threads and looking at your garden pics. Your Stevie is one little lucky tortoise


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## Oxalis

Pearly said:


> @Oxalis, I love your Tortoise Garden and envy the parts of your climate where things grow big and robust in the Summer and you don’t have to worry about where to plant your things so that your heat-tender plants don’t get beat up by the afternoon blaze in June/july/august. Over here it’s always a guessing game. That is unless you go with all the Texas natives... which are beautiful... but I do miss the beauty and fragrance of lilacs, peonies, jasmine, Poets’ Narcissus, apple tree blooms in a Spring, and those BIG asters and chrysanthemums (flowers size of head of cabbage) in a Fall. Here we are kind of in the middle, can’t go with tropicals either, due to those 3-5 days of freezing temps we typically get each Winter... and I hate dragging my big heavy pots in and out! Too much work. Too heavy... so I will just enjoy reading your threads and looking at your garden pics. Your Stevie is one little lucky tortoise


Thank you for the kind words. I always enjoy hearing from you, @Pearly!


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## Oxalis

Gasp! It nearly hit 75°F today! And it was sunny! A shocker for Michigan. Steve got to play outside for several hours; I was impressed. We still may have more snow in the forecast. I spent much of the afternoon pulling out the dead sticks from last year's growth. ...So many primrose stalks!!  It's much cleaner now; ready for some new plants to grow. My new step will be to remove a good chunk of the red clover (_Trifolium pratense_) since it's very aggressive compared to my native plants. Then, depending on what grows back, maybe I can add a few new plants.

Steve getting some vitamin D:


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## Oxalis

Happy Earth Day!!  We just enjoyed a couple days of solid rain so the sunshine today was just lovely. Steve got lots of exercise while I got lots of work done. I'm feeling old this year so I wanted more stepping stones. Steve makes it hard for me to find him under his plants, so I needed more space to more around. I put most of the pavers in spots where the ground was low; hopefully this prevents some future flooding.

I removed some red clover and put in a couple plantains I found hiding in the yard. I moved his rose "tree" out to another part of the yard since the "trunk" died but the roots are growing new branches (and thorns). I planted a couple pansies a week ago and pruned the spirea bush. I also put in a couple small terra cotta pots, one with calendula seeds and the other with artichoke. If the seeds don't sprout, no big loss. I'm planning to get a couple new plants next month: campanula/harebell, geranium, and one coneflower (_Echinacea_ sp.). If I need more space, there are plenty of primrose or aster plants I can remove. I think Steve approves. 

Looking north:




Looking south:


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## Oxalis

Oxalis said:


> ...I needed more space to more around.


* move around


Oxalis said:


> ...growing new branches (and thorns).


* new stems

Man, I'm tired...


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## Oxalis

Steve is spending some time outside in intermittent sunshine, 70°F +. Not bad for May. We just got a ton of rain so the plants are growing well.













The dandelions are in bloom; Steve's favorite treat!




The native woodland phlox is in bloom now. Steve enjoys its young leaves.


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## Oxalis

The native wildflower additions for this year are in the ground now. We bought them from our beloved Wildtype nursery again.  While I only added a few wildflowers to the inside of the enclosure, my husband helped dig a trench around the outside eastern and northern walls of the enclosure to provide a barrier of tortoise-safe plants. The lawn and some invading wild yarrow have been trying to grow under the enclosure walls and around its buried bricks. While some tort owners are fine feeding yarrow (_Achillea millefolium_), The Tortoise Table recommends not feeding it due to its furocoumarins. I prefer to err on the side of caution, and Steve has so many other safe treats already available. The yarrow roots cluster together like spaghetti, resembling sod and has even choked out some patches of our lawn. And since I'm not sure what type of grass the lawn is, I'd rather Steve not have access to it. Instead, the _Carex_ genus of grass is safe tort food, so I am hoping the grass roots form a sort of root wall, preventing the yarrow from invading the enclosure. We'll see if it works this summer.

*New Plants:*

Harebell (_Campanula rotundifolia_)
Wild Geranium (_Geranium maculatum_)
Wild Petunia (_Ruellia humilis_)
Purple Coneflower (_Echinacea purpurea_)
Muskingum (Palm) Sedge (_Carex muskingumensis_)

Here are a couple photos of the new grasses around his enclosure.







Dandelion flowers are in season now, so Steve's been stalking them lately.







Steve leaned against the wall to grab the last of the sunshine for the day:


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## ShirleyTX

Happy happy boy....


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## Oxalis

ShirleyTX said:


> Happy happy boy....


 Steve is so fun to spoil.


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## Oxalis

Here are some more photos of Steve outside in the past few weeks. His plants have really grown since then; the native _Hibiscus moscheutos_ has really shot up recently, especially with some recent heavy rainfall. I can't wait for it to bloom! Some common weeds here that I'm looking out for now are lamb's quarters (_Chenopodium album_), ragweed (_Ambrosia_ spp.), and wood sorrel (_Oxalis_ spp.), if anyone is interested.



















"All right, crazy lady, you're done with the camera..."




The geranium is almost done blooming now, but here's a photo of the lovely flowers in mid-May:




The new geranium plants I put in this spring; they don't seem to mind being transplanted at all!




It is now "snowing" cottonwood seeds.


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## Oxalis

Here's a photo I forgot to post last month: Steve's yellow hawkweed (_Hieracium_ sp.) in bloom in early June.




Here's most the garden now, already needing to be thinned out a bit more... There's a hollyhock (_Alcea_ sp.) stalk taller than me again. The spirea is done flowering, but the prairie phlox (_Phlox pilosa_) is still in bloom, and we're enjoying its long bloom time. The _Hibiscus moscheutos_ is about to bloom, yey! And Steve is impatiently waiting for his evening primrose (_Oenothera biennis_) treats to bloom. Lately I've mostly been pulling out nettle and nettle-like weeds, lambsquarters (_Chenopodium album_), smartweed (_Polygonum pensylvanicum_), and a few ragweed.


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## MPappagallo

Oxalis said:


> Here are some of the latest photos, now that some things have grown in!! Our mantids egg hatched too, so we have more babies than just our tortoise and fishies.
> 
> View attachment 83631
> View attachment 83632
> View attachment 83633
> View attachment 83634
> View attachment 83635
> View attachment 83636
> 
> 
> Steve has _a ton_ of plants to hide under (and eat!) and most of them are from the Tortoise Supply Testudo Seed Mix—which he absolutely loves.
> 
> I'm pretty sure these photos are a week or two old and the plants have already grown more since I took the pictures!!


Loks like he is in paradise! I am sure he is loving it!


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## Oxalis

MPappagallo said:


> Loks like he is in paradise! I am sure he is loving it!


Thanks!! Steve is definitely loving being outside rather than inside right now. With so few rainy days so far this summer, he's getting plenty of playtime in his garden.


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## Oxalis

Here are some updates from Steve's salad bar. Recently it's been way too hot and humid for gardening. Steve's had a lot of access to water, and I've even had to bring him indoors at the hottest part of the day. It's finally cooled off a bit. The evening primrose just started to bloom, and Steve got the very first flower as a special treat.

The wild petunia (_Ruellia humilis_) bloomed! Here it is next to some geranium and chicory flowers.




More chicory flowers, my favorite wildflower, with some sedum.




Steve taking a break. 




Some of the hibiscus buds; soon we'll have lots of blooms.




One of the hollyhock stalks, which has grown through the enclosure ceiling. 




The big leaf aster (_Eurybia macrophylla_) has bloomed too, which I thought was early for the season. Maybe the recent heat wave triggered it. Apparently this plant isn't guaranteed to bloomed every year, which makes it all the more special.


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## Oxalis

It's a nice sunny tortoise day. Here's Steve sniffing around:




The first native hibiscus (_Hibiscus moscheutos_) bloom of the season, next to some lovely native American bellflower (_Campanulastrum americanum_):




Steve chowing down:




Mmm... sun...


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## Pearly

Oxalis said:


> It's a nice sunny tortoise day. Here's Steve sniffing around:
> 
> View attachment 277159
> 
> 
> The first native hibiscus (_Hibiscus moscheutos_) bloom of the season, next to some lovely native American bellflower (_Campanulastrum americanum_):
> 
> View attachment 277150
> 
> 
> Steve chowing down:
> 
> View attachment 277160
> 
> 
> Mmm... sun...
> 
> View attachment 277151



Steve’s little outdoor universe is truly enviable! Absolutely LOVE the way you did his garden!


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## ClarenceTort

How big do they have to be to be kept outside for a few hours. I have a Russian about 5 “. We take him out twice a day to roam but have to watch him. I’m in process of building an outdoor area. Any thoughts


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## Oxalis

Pearly said:


> Steve’s little outdoor universe is truly enviable! Absolutely LOVE the way you did his garden!


Many thanks!! Steve will never run out of snacks. ^_^


ClarenceTort said:


> How big do they have to be to be kept outside for a few hours. I have a Russian about 5 “. We take him out twice a day to roam but have to watch him. I’m in process of building an outdoor area. Any thoughts


Steve was already an adult when I took him in from a friend, so I never had any experience caring for him as a baby. My instincts tell me that Russians are probably fine to get some outside time once their shell is completely fused, provided they get lots of soaking time so they can stay hydrated. I would also keep an eye on him if he's not in a confined enclosure like Steve. I could be wrong though, so I'll provide you with a better resource: Tom is a real expert on this and his night box thread should prove helpful to you: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/

More photos of my native hibiscus; I love them!


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## ClarenceTort

So we are having an outdoor enclosure built5,x10’. Can I fill it with top soil and some of his reptile bark? I am gong to plant his food in there as well so he can eat as he likes but wasn’t sure if I could use potting soil for that. Any tips.


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## Oxalis

ClarenceTort said:


> So we are having an outdoor enclosure built5,x10’. Can I fill it with top soil and some of his reptile bark? I am gong to plant his food in there as well so he can eat as he likes but wasn’t sure if I could use potting soil for that. Any tips.


If the enclosure is outdoors, plain dirt is probably fine; no need for the reptile bark. Make sure that you purchase the type of dirt without fertilizer, chemicals, or perlite in it as this can be dangerous for tortoises. The important thing for Russians is to make sure the enclosure walls go down underground a good 6 inches or so, or to otherwise secure the underground area so your tortoise cannot burrow out of the enclosure from under the walls.

I have some river rocks and bricks—as Russians like to climb and to provide some "enrichment"—as well as some pavers to provide a warm basking spot. I would also provide some spaces for your tortoise to get enough shade. I have a cinder block, a terra cotta pot, and a little house I built with 2' x 4's. Steve also likes to hide under his Spirea/Meadowsweet bush, which a very easy shrub to grow and tolerates pruning.


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## ClarenceTort

Oxalis said:


> Happy Earth Day!!  We just enjoyed a couple days of solid rain so the sunshine today was just lovely. Steve got lots of exercise while I got lots of work done. I'm feeling old this year so I wanted more stepping stones. Steve makes it hard for me to find him under his plants, so I needed more space to more around. I put most of the pavers in spots where the ground was low; hopefully this prevents some future flooding.
> 
> I removed some red clover and put in a couple plantains I found hiding in the yard. I moved his rose "tree" out to another part of the yard since the "trunk" died but the roots are growing new branches (and thorns). I planted a couple pansies a week ago and pruned the spirea bush. I also put in a couple small terra cotta pots, one with calendula seeds and the other with artichoke. If the seeds don't sprout, no big loss. I'm planning to get a couple new plants next month: campanula/harebell, geranium, and one coneflower (_Echinacea_ sp.). If I need more space, there are plenty of primrose or aster plants I can remove. I think Steve approves.
> 
> Looking north:
> 
> View attachment 270519
> 
> 
> Looking south:
> 
> View attachment 270520


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## ClarenceTort

That is a nice spot. How old and how big is your guy?


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## ClarenceTort

ClarenceTort said:


> That is a nice spot. How old and how big is your guy?







Clarence new summer house!!!


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## Blackdog1714

Try the plaintain weed. My Russian eats to the nubs in a week so I have to replace it


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## ClarenceTort

Blackdog1714 said:


> Try the plaintain weed. My Russian eats to the nubs in a week so I have to replace it


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## ClarenceTort

Where do You buy that?


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## Blackdog1714

Sorry I always mispell- Plantain Weed and check alleys and yards that aren't sprayed. mine goes wild in the alley


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## ClarenceTort

ClarenceTort said:


> View attachment 278394
> View attachment 278395
> 
> 
> Clarence new summer house!!!



Is it normal for these guys to try to climb out of the outdoor enclosure. My walls are 12” high. He’s not getting out but he spends his time trying. I told him he has to access the yard through a legal port of entry but he won’t listen!!![emoji12]


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## Blackdog1714

Russians are hard wired to patrol the perimeter and test the defenses for REAL! Any weakness and it will be found!


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## ClarenceTort

ClarenceTort said:


> Is it normal for these guys to try to climb out of the outdoor enclosure. My walls are 12” high. He’s not getting out but he spends his time trying. I told him he has to access the yard through a legal port of entry but he won’t listen!!![emoji12]


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## ClarenceTort

Blackdog1714 said:


> Russians are hard wired to patrol the perimeter and test the defenses for REAL! Any weakness and it will be found!



Ok. I’m going to secure the border quick. Would love to be able to leave him unsupervised for a little bit.


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## Blackdog1714

I added a repurposed aluminum fence panel with chicken wire for a cover. Works for all day even over a week if I vaction. I have a mason jar waterer (chickens) and have several edible plants. The yard sprinkler hits it once a day for 30 minutes


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## ClarenceTort

ClarenceTort said:


> Ok. I’m going to secure the border quick. Would love to be able to leave him unsupervised for a little bit.





He really thinks he is going to get over that wall!! Definitely not quitter


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## ClarenceTort

ClarenceTort said:


> View attachment 278456
> 
> He really thinks he is going to get over that wall!! Definitely not quitter


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## Blackdog1714

Okay mr overachiever I just noticed the detail work- every corner rounded and every surface sanded! [emoji50][emoji106]


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## ClarenceTort

Blackdog1714 said:


> Okay mr overachiever I just noticed the detail work- every corner rounded and every surface sanded! [emoji50][emoji106]



Only the best for my guy


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## Oxalis

Steve finds the one basking spot in the whole garden.


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## Blackdog1714

That is just a proof of life shot!


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## kaycov

Look what I built today for the boys. It's 6' by 8', countersunk with a chicken-wire top and handles to lift the wire. I know it's not a professional job, but it works. They will still come in at night in their 4' x 4' with mister and heat, and they'll be in when I'm not home as well, but I'm kind of proud of what I made. I will be planting in that pen, and I will sink in a larger water dish for them as well. Any other suggestions? Oh, and they will have two hides built for inside as well. They are Red Foots - about a year and a half old.


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## JLMDVM

You go girl!


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## Oxalis

I have some pictures to post in a few days, but for now is a surprise I recently found in Steve's garden. His calendula plant finally grew and flowered! I thought it had died. I grew the Burpee seeds in a separate terra cotta pot that was half-buried in the dirt. Steve tried the leaves and approved so I'll probably get seeds again next spring and grow more. Since it's starting to get colder (it hit freezing temps tonight) I pulled the flower and Steve chowed down on it. I'll find the pictures of him eating it later. This picture is from last Thursday:


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