gardening advice?

[DayDreamer]

we live in puerto rico (hot all year round) I know I can grow most things however we dont have a real garden everything has to be in pots.
over the weekend i went to Kmart and got a pack of seeds that is a mix of different lettuces (sweet salad mix)

time-tested heirloom varieties in red (Ruby lettuce, Bull's Blood beet) and bright green (Bloomsdale spinach, Simpson lettuce, Tendergreen mustard)

I wanted to do a double check make sure all of this is safe (ill obviously be picking out the spinach and using that for us)
and ask how many I can plant per pot... the package says 6 inches of space between but I really dont have that many pots and this mix is temporary if at all used (more of a back up... ill at least have something growing thats not pesticide filled store bought stuff fully grown by the time i order my tortoise mix early next month) would it be find to have like 3 growing in one (med. sized pot) even if the growth is stunted on them? or will they not grow at all?

i planted about 6 in the pot over the weekend and a few more in jiffy pots and they have all sprouted im now worried this is going to cause a problem... if anything i will buy store greens for the 1st month until i get my tortoise mix

im just a little worried about the greens not having proper nutritional value if the growth gets stunted from having so many in one pot...

 

[pfara]

Loose leaf lettuce can be packed into a pot. Since you're growing food for tortoises, keep picking off the outer leaves by the time they reach 2-3 inches to feed. The middle of the plant will keep producing leaves for a continous harvest. This way your plants remain compact and can all survive in a single pot without much hassle. So yes, you're fine to have 3 or more in a medium sized pot.

 

[DayDreamer]

perfect. and all of those (except the spinach) are good to feed?

 

[pfara]

I'm of the mind that most of what we eat, our tortoises can, too. I wouldn't rule out spinach as long as you use just a little. Spinach has high nutritional value that shouldn't be ignored. Otherwise, the other plants you listed should be fine as part of a varied diet.

Here are some pics of some of my lettuce as a reference:

There are three lettuce plantlings in this bottle of water. If you look at some of the stems, I've taken a few leaves from each already.


The roots aren't even significant at the size they are. So, I would think that having 6 plants in a medium pot wouldn't be horrible at all.


Hope this helps!