Garden chat & photos for torts and people ♫ ♫

[Tom]

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

I like this idea. I've got some African Hibiscus seeds that I saved from last year. This is a great food plant that I never hear anyone else talk about. Easy to grow, easy to get seeds from and all of my tortoises species jump on it like I jump on ice cream! Its a really good food for them. My tortoises will eat a pile of African Hibiscus before they'll eat a pile of Mazuri. Hibiscus sabdariffa.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I like this idea. I've got some African Hibiscus seeds that I saved from last year. This is a great food plant that I never hear anyone else talk about. Easy to grow, easy to get seeds from and all of my tortoises species jump on it like I jump on ice cream! Its a really good food for them. My tortoises will eat a pile of African Hibiscus before they'll eat a pile of Mazuri. Hibiscus sabdariffa.

ooooh....count me in for some of that!!! ..Er..uh..the African Hibiscus that is. -I'm not sure how the ice cream would handle the shipping process.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have pink and now the black hollyhock. They probably won't bloom this year, but if we're still talking about it next year I'll be happy to send you some of the black seeds.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I just ordered some of these seeds. It's an interesting looking flower, but I ordered them because they are called "Blue HOBBIT" and I am a DORK!!!

 

[Jacqui]

lol That's as good of a reason as any.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I'm enjoying the early sprouting weeds and flower seeds from my recent family and tortoise seed planting.

Most of the flowers and vegetables I grow take at least a couple weeks to germinate, so I'm getting such a HUGE kick out of the weeds, sprouts, and even small flowers that germinate so quickly. It's a great feeling to see the fruit of your labors (literally!) springing to life so quickly.

I dug up dandelions last Autumn and they continue to grow and provide diversity for my Sulcata.

Now, I am also growing dandelion SEEDS--woo hoo. I plan to sprinkle them through the lawn. I am still continuing to grow a good tortoise lawn and since we mow the shared grass, I think it would be a lot of fun to have bunches of big overgrown dandelion plants in a few cool looking little pots in my yard. I'll also be putting some dandelions in her indoor chamber.


My first dandelion seedlings are popping up to say "hello" after just four days

I got these dandelion seeds from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QZ9CGG/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20
They were a lot of money for weeds! whew! But I really wanted the seeds. Feel free to tease me all you want

I'm sure everyone is tired of me going on and on about how much I love SNAP DRAGONS! I love the flower for many reasons (going back to my childhood & the love my kids have for playing with them like puppets). I will always give them praise for being snowy early winter food source. Mavis eats the flowers and leaves. Snap dragons, grass, and strawberry leaves were the last outside food I could give her, before winter finally won.


The tall Snap Dragons are the prettiest, but I learned it's really important to have a mix of tall and short for your tortoise food. The short snap dragons will last a while tucked under a blanket of snow and especially a few Autumn leaves.

I have tons of Dwarf Snapdragon seeds and BOY! do they germinate fast and easy!!!

The dwarf seeds are literally as small as fine dusty sand. I threw them in a lidded restaurant take-out dish that was filled with potting soil and a layer of plain coco coir on top where the seeds are. This photo was taken yesterday. Today, they are so thick that my daughter thought I was growing MOSS. This small variety of snapdragons germinated in about THREE DAYS with no special treatment or even added warmth (but I do water with WARM water).

(@Tyanna I still have handfuls of these powdery seeds. Send me a PM if you want some of this tiny dwarf variety to mix in under the pretty big snap dragons)

 

[Jacqui]

Looks like somebody is going to have to thin out those snappies. I hate doing that.

 

[Prairie Mom]

Looks like somebody is going to have to thin out those snappies. I hate doing that.

Yes, I hate doing that too! I'm not planning on thinning them out though. I think I'll let them just battle it out and put chunks of planted dirt inside Mavis's enclosure. I have enough seeds that I'll mix them with sand and just throw them around the flower beds outside. The seeds are about 4 years old and need to be used up.

 

[Jacqui]

Looks like they still had a good germination rate.

 

[Prairie Mom]

My red celery, peppermint celery, and BLUE HOBBIT seeds arrived today from seedman.com. SOMEONE HAS MORE GARDENING TO DO! I was impressed that the arrival of the seeds included a statement and warranty that the seeds were guaranteed to germinate. Let's test this out, guys. They even included some plastic plant labels---awww... Thanks seedman!

red celery (er hum! looks purple to me!)


peppermint stick celery

 

[Jacqui]

The red celery reminds me just a tad of rhubarb.

 

[Heather H]

Just to clarify, my first garden photo is of a batch of young plants that I grew from seed and was preparing to plant in my garden. It takes a bit of time to get the plants used to being outside in the wind and sun. They would just die if I took them straight from my basement grow lights and put them in the garden.

Also, I nearly killed the tomato plants in the soda bottles TWICE because I didn't put enough holes for drainage and over watered. I'll give the tomatoes waaaay more drainage next Spring.

a handfull of rocks at the bottom helps with drainage.

 

[Heather H]

OMG your using cat litter buckets too!!!

i do that. we paint them. saw off the top drill holes in the bottom. this is for our herbs.

 

[Heather H]

Hi guys,
I'm relatively new to gardening and absolutely love it. I love providing food for my family, and growing food for my tortoise to enjoy is one of the highlights of keeping these amazing animals.

@Blake m and I were chatting about gardens and wanted to share pictures. I found a few garden threads, but wasn't sure if they were still being actively used. I also didn't want to take over, so I thought I'd go ahead and post some of my gardening exploits and INVITE ANYONE AND EVERYONE TO DO THE SAME!

I love gardens and am interested in anything from balcony pots, great looking shrubs, and beautiful fields. Feel free to take over this thread and remember to share some of your goodies on @littleginsu 's trading goodies thread: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/trading-goodies.87084/

Happy Growing!

ok wow love this forum. getting more ideas. just what i needed. i use anything i can find to plant plants in. ty for showing me this forum

 

[Prairie Mom]

a handfull of rocks at the bottom helps with drainage.

What a simple fix! I'll definitely do that this year! plus<-ER-HUM> will drill more holes..tee hee

 

[Prairie Mom]

ok wow love this forum. getting more ideas. just what i needed. i use anything i can find to plant plants in. ty for showing me this forum

Yes! Now, that you've been sucked in...mwa ha ha...we'll bug you to post pictures

 

[Heather H]

What a simple fix! I'll definitely do that this year! plus<-ER-HUM> will drill more holes..tee hee

I don't drill holes because I just have them everywhere. I slip the cut off top with cap back on instant greenhouse.

 

[jaizei]

Has anyone tried an aerogarden?

 

[Tyanna]

Has anyone tried an aerogarden?

I wanted one for Christmas, but got a game instead.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I don't really know much about them. They seem kind of expensive for a small grow space. Maybe there's something nifty that makes them worth it?