Garden chat & photos for torts and people ♫ ♫

[Momof4]

Thank you! That's it! My RF don't really graze on plants in their enclosure, so I think I will plant a few.

 

[Jacqui]

Just got my first set of milk/tea jugs cleaned and bottoms cut out so they are ready for spring planting as covers on 'maters and peppers.

 

[phebe121]

You may want to compare it to Philodendron siloum. I think that is what it is... If that is the case, torts may nibble on it. It has a very high oxalate concentration.

Your right thats what it is

 

[Prairie Mom]

Well...I still have a few Christmas decorations to put away, BUT I have most of my seeds planted indoors for next year's garden!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess you can tell what my priorities are...hee hee

I still have some edible flowers I'll need to plant inside and will wait to direct sew my parsnips, carrots, and corn (although, I am actually debating starting my corn a few weeks early inside).

@Jacqui and @Yvonne G I did go ahead and order the peppermint striped celery you mentioned and that website also had the red celery I've been looking for. I'm just waiting for those to come in the mail and will plant them asap since they're slow growers.

@Jacqui I have also planted purslane seeds like we talked about on the thread a while ago. I ordered a pretty looking scarlet variety in hopes that they would be at least half as pretty as the photos you posted and I planted that "naughty" garden purslane that tastes yummy and seems to have been snuck through customs.

 

[Tyanna]

I don't have anywhere to start my plants indoors. Ughhh.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I've never intentionally planted Purslane before I've just enjoyed the Purslane that popped up throughout my gardens. Now that we have to share with Mavis (our sulcata) and now that I've seen other decorative varieties, I really wanted to try planting some myself.


Here's a photo of the Scarlet Purslane seeds (they're super tiny)


The package said that the seeds would germinate between 4-6 days. I thought:"yeah right!?"

BUT LOOK...
I planted these on the 11th and the seed heads started sprouted LAST NIGHT (the 12th)!!!!

scarlet purslane


green purslane seedling (looks like I accidentally dropped a scarlet in there too)

Man! Growing weeds give you some nice instant gratification!!! I've been growing stuff like Holly hocks and squash seedlings to give to Mavis now and again and that is SOOOO S-L-O-W. Gotta love fast growing weeds!

If I could manage to stay organized and take the time to document, I'd like to make a few solitary posts about the various tortoise edibles and how long they're taking to grow etc. I'm swamped so I can't promise anything

 

[Prairie Mom]

I don't have anywhere to start my plants indoors. Ughhh.

ME TOO, TYANNA!!!

I've lost my basement grow space to construction projects. I don't have shelves or anything. I actually took the advice you gave me a couple pages ago to be creative Over the next few days, my husband is going to help me take over an upstairs area where we can keep the cats out and we're going to empty some book shelves and make them face each other in order to support unhinged doors between them for me to use as table tops for a few long grow lights. Once the plants get big, I either better have a new grow space again, or hmmm...we'll have to "get creative" once again.

Right now since all of my plants are either still under dirt or just sprouting, they don't need light yet and I literally have them stacked over EVERY surface of my messy kitchen! I'm just rotating which seed trays get to go in the warmer spots (so things will grow slower).

I'm debating whether I should snap a shot of my messy kitchen...hmmm

 

[Jacqui]

I don't have anywhere to start my plants indoors. Ughhh.

I don't either, plus I suck at groing things from seeds. Inside plants end up being something the cats never give up trying to get to and they always succeed.

 

[Jacqui]

I'm debating whether I should snap a shot of my messy kitchen...hmmm

We will feel right at home now.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm lucky to have a small greenhouse and I start my seeds in there. I haven't planted the rainbow eucalyptus yet, but this is a pot of about 25 black hollyhock seedlings:



We have a member here whose username is jubaticaba. When I Googled it I came up with:



And I decided I just have to have this tree. So I bought two seedlings. Of course it will be many, many years before I see fruit like that, if ever. They come from S. America and probably are not frost hardy, so they'll probably be living in pots their whole lives here:



And last, but not least...I bought some garcinia seedlings this past summer. One died and the other is growing, but is turning yellow. I don't know what I'm doing wrong:

 

[Jacqui]

Interesting tree! There are just so many neat plants out there. I have a love/hate thing when plant catalogs come to the house. I love looking at everything, but hate the costs (and the limitations on what I could grow even if I could afford them).

 

[Prairie Mom]

Oh, Yvonne! I loved your POST!!!!!!!! I adore @Jabuticaba and remember she posted about this tree in the thread Yellowturtle started about user names. I thought those trees were unreal and am SOOO curious about them!!! It's almost shocking the way the fruit grows from the main trunks of the tree. I love that you're trying to grow some and am so curious about what they would taste like. I wonder how old the tree has to be in order to bear fruit? I imagine pretty big?

Also, @Tom is interested in Hollyhocks. <I'm hoping to get the seeds to you in the mail tomorrow, Tom!> I gave my first batch of Hollyhock seedlings to Mavis and am attempting to grow a second batch in order to plant more flowers for all of us to use in the garden. I plan on saving all my seeds and growing the greens next year for Mavis again, but it is so S-L-O-W-nothing like growing weeds and sprouts.

Yvonne, are you growing "black" blossomed Hollyhocks? If so, could we do a trade? I'll give you some of the Peach (It's a really pretty color) I'm growing as seedlings right now, or I could give you red and peach seeds this Autumn. I'd love to have some black seeds or seedlings!

(@Jacqui if you ever want to try Hollyhocks again, I'd be willing to send you some already started plants once they're big enough!)

 

[Prairie Mom]

Interesting tree! There are just so many neat plants out there. I have a love/hate thing when plant catalogs come to the house. I love looking at everything, but hate the costs (and the limitations on what I could grow even if I could afford them).

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" to EVERY word you said there!

 

[Prairie Mom]

One died and the other is growing, but is turning yellow. I don't know what I'm doing wrong:

I had this happen to me last year for the first time. I killed off a couple young tomato plants and had a section of strawberries do this. I even wondered if insects were attacking the roots underground or something wacky. I have no idea if any of this is true or helpful, but I read and tried a couple different things...
I read that it could be from over watering and the nutrients leaking out of the soil (this definitely could have been what I did with the tomatoes. I nearly killed all my seedlings with poor drainage and over watering.)
I also read it could be from soil that is too alkaline for the plant (I do have really alkaline soil).
In both cases, the recommendation was to reduce water and feed, feed, feed the soil. My tomatoes died any way ( I think they were too far gone). The strawberries seemed to perk up, but I have to see if that section comes back this Spring. If you ever figure it out, please let me know. I'm curious about this too.

 

[Jacqui]

(@Jacqui if you ever want to try Hollyhocks again, I'd be willing to send you some already started plants once they're big enough!)

Oh I still have hollihocks
.

Some seeds I collected one year to share (well the pods before cleaning)

 

[Jacqui]

My hollyhocks are my rogue plants. lol They tend to pop up all over. I like the plant themselves and I do like the blooms, but I dislike those bloom stocks. Makes it worse most of mine tend to come up either in the pathways or right next to them, so you have those drying out stalks coating you with that plant dander. My son hates them.

 

[Prairie Mom]

Oh I still have hollihocks
.

Some seeds I collected one year to share (well the pods before cleaning)

Wow!!! YES YOU DO HAVE HOLLYHOCKS! I'm sorry, I mis-remembered and must be confusing these with another plant you mentioned that kept dying on you. -----or...I could just be crazy...there is that too

Your pink tub is exactly how I saved my stalks this year and since I'm lazy, will probably do every year.

 

[Prairie Mom]

This Autumn, all the garden chatters should plan on doing a seed swap! Any kind of plants. That could be really fun!

 

[Jacqui]

Year before last I used a trash can instead of the pretty tub. lol

 

[Prairie Mom]

ha ha ha...that's cool