Gma's indoor winter gardening (and Sulcata brag) thread

Odin's Gma

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The picture of the seedling in my agave tray that I posted the other day is most certainly not an agave, but the NEW seedlings coming up sure are!
SO EXCITED!
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Odin's Gma

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There are a couple more agave sprouts coming up today, and i decided to take the rest of the week off work because I had the time and I need to reboot. So, along with awaiting delivery of some new mail order seeds and plants (lots of strawberries! YAY!), I stopped at the garden center yesterday (despite the fact that we are two months away from planting season so there isn't much to shop for yet) and picked up a pot dolly and a new, bigger home for Mr. Hibiscus. I think he will be very happy there. :) And it will be much easier for me to move him and rotate him to catch more sun.
Oh, and the 3 new aloe plants I put in Odin's enclosure the other day? Yeah, they have been pruned......but cute tort booty! YAY!003.JPG 004.JPG

FYI, repotting something that large in the dining room? Quite a mess, and not very easy, but it was necessary.
 

Odin's Gma

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I was also very happy to see a couple soil centipedes in the garden and the hibiscus while I was potting and watering! I am not generally a big fan of bugs in the house and centipedes in particular are pretty creepy, but this type should actually be pretty beneficial in controlling the bothersome whiteflies and fungus gnats. I will try and snap a picture of one of them next time I see one, it's good to recognize the friendlies.
 

Odin's Gma

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Geez! Catching these little buggers on camera is like finding proof of a Yeti, but I did it! Meet one of my little garden helpers:
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Odin's Gma

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Gardens are doing great!
The little snacking tray is now a big snacking tray! He has a tough time getting through the jungle and prefers to pick off the overhanging ones on the sides allowing the center to actually grow, which means I may just get a flower eventually! I also use this one to clip dandelion greens and clover for him later in the week when the tray in his enclosure starts to get down to just grass.001.JPG


Next tray in the line-up is downright overgrown! That will change this weekend when it goes into his enclosure....003.JPG

Mmmm005.JPG

And AGAVE!!!!!! There are two random seedlings that I am leaving in because I would like to know what they are, but I count 6 likely agave seedlings!010.JPG
This was the first one, with a new little one coming up right next to it. Just gorgeous! I can't wait to see what kind it is!011.JPG 013.JPG

So much green!017.JPG

And just days away from african violet flowers! :)018.JPG

This is the current tray, the picture doesn't quite do it justice, but it's getting pretty rough (except for the miraculous ressurection of the once very sad and eaten spider plant!). We will pull it within the next few days.020.JPG


And Odin taking a pre-snacking bath. I just can't get over the cuteness of his swim-like bathing pose. :)021.JPG
 

Prairie Mom

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Odin's gma: WOW...I feel like I must have taken a nap or something and while I was out this thread became even more FANTASTIC! Your indoor garden is absolutely inspiring!!! -truly! I'll be coming to you for help when my indoor hibiscus gets bigger (right now it's only a seedling).

@puffy137 all the pictures you post always look like Paradise. I imagine you living inside the painting of "Expectations" :)
 

Odin's Gma

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Odin's gma: WOW...I feel like I must have taken a nap or something and while I was out this thread became even more FANTASTIC! Your indoor garden is absolutely inspiring!!! -truly!
Thank you! And honestly I kind of feel the same way about the plants! It seems like I just started them and overnight they all just exploded!
I just received my bare root pineberries yesterday (a white strawberry hybrid) so I had some repotting and rearranging going on after that last post. I have also started seeds for the spring for both here and for up at my folks lake house (so far, tobacco, asparagus and rhubarb) and more herbs for myself, so, more pics!

I am not a neat and clean gardener.
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The marigold is as tall as the basil now and one of the cats is very interested.029.JPG

He is also very interested in the errant grass seeds that took hold in my avocado plant. (seeded from a grocery store avocado after a delicious batch of guacamole)032.JPG


And off course since the cats got to taste, Odin had to come out for inspection and sampling also

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And they may not look like much now, but (hopefully) tasty pineberries will be here before long! Still awaiting additional strawberry seed varieties.033.JPG
 

Prairie Mom

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Everything looks amazing!! It kills me that you got pineberries. My kids found them in a catalogue and Jacqui showed them to me in the garden chat. I'm planning on getting some in the near future. Do you know if they're June bearing or Ever bearing?? Also, you'll have to tell me how you know when they are ripe.
 

Odin's Gma

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Everything looks amazing!! It kills me that you got pineberries. My kids found them in a catalogue and Jacqui showed them to me in the garden chat. I'm planning on getting some in the near future. Do you know if they're June bearing or Ever bearing?? Also, you'll have to tell me how you know when they are ripe.
Everbearing! I also have some yellow alpine and blue lillium (which I had never heard of) seeds on the way, also both everbearing. I wanted to try some different colors to see if they would indeed be a little more bird proof here and at the lake. Of course the two varieties I am waiting on won't be producing anything this year since I am starting them from seed, but I am excited anyway!
 

Prairie Mom

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Everbearing! I also have some yellow alpine and blue lillium (which I had never heard of) seeds on the way, also both everbearing. I wanted to try some different colors to see if they would indeed be a little more bird proof here and at the lake. Of course the two varieties I am waiting on won't be producing anything this year since I am starting them from seed, but I am excited anyway!
Excellent! I'm all for everbearing!!! I've never even heard of the other two? I'll have to look into those.
 

Odin's Gma

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Excellent! I'm all for everbearing!!! I've never even heard of the other two? I'll have to look into those.
Me too! Strawberries are just too delicious to have to confine yourself to one harvest! :D

Once again, Odin is in a post-Mazuri sulk and has no interest in my talk of strawberries, so to cheer him up I gave him a hibiscus leaf bigger than he is, and once he moved it, he found his roughly once a month treat of some fresh grated carrots! That cheered him right up! He attacked it as though he hadn't eaten in months!
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New Desert Tortoise Mommy

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Me too! Except BIG! I would love spending all day just pruning and misting and seeding.....

OH! And my geranium is starting to bud! Odin will be so happy. :)



I was honestly surprised the aloe lasted as long as it did in his enclosure, and the christmas cactus has had remarkable luck! I imagine keeping the fresh trays coming every week has gone a long way toward that.

I should probably mention that. Right now we have 4 large trays (standard seed trays, @11" x 22") going for him, obviously with a lot of other assorted offerings, but the trays we drop into his enclosure are randomly seeded with whatever I grab each time we pull them out of his enclosure, and right now we are dropping in a fresh tray roughly once a week. He is 10 months old and 143 gms as of last week.
We pull them before he eats everything completely, usually there are just tufts of sad, trampled and munched grass left. So, when I pull them each tray has roughly 3 weeks to rebound and sprout before being devoured. It is working better than I had hoped!


Okay so i love your indoor garden thats what i want !! Haha i have a few questions tho. For starting them out as seedlings should i have them covered ? I know you do with just about all new plants but i didnt see anything covered in your posts besides the cactus. Also you posted the size of your trays but r these the ones with or without drain holes? Thank you !!
 

Odin's Gma

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Okay so i love your indoor garden thats what i want !! Haha i have a few questions tho. For starting them out as seedlings should i have them covered ? I know you do with just about all new plants but i didnt see anything covered in your posts besides the cactus. Also you posted the size of your trays but r these the ones with or without drain holes? Thank you !!

Nope, I don't use the ones with drain holes since we are putting them directly into his enclosure. I also mix coco coir in with the potting soil. It keeps the trays a bit lighter and helps retain moisture. As far as covering them, once the seeds are sprouted and healthy I keep them uncovered during the day, that way they get more air flow and fungus won't build up in the soil or damp off the seedlings. I do still cover all but the most grown ones at night, although the grass is so tall it's not really that effective. :D
 

Odin's Gma

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Back in post 36 I complained that our little gardener had pruned his aloe nearly down to the substrate so I dug it up and transplanted it into a pot with some of the other aloe to see if it could be saved, and like a phoenix from the ashes, I see this!001.JPG


It's alive, ALIVE!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and I now have 10 agave seedlings!004.JPG


Nearly %100 germination rate! (I think there was one seed that didn't sprout) They are painfully slow growing so far, but they are holding strong!


But the gardens are taking over the dining room, I can't wait for spring!
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Odin's Gma

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I worked the weekend so I had the day off, and when my son left for the day I "snuck" Odin some african violet and marigold flowers and Mazuri.
First, he RAN out from under the top level and jealousy guarded his treat while posing perfectly over his handmade stone:009.JPG


Then he blocked out the first two letters of the word "great" and chowed down!
Funniest. Tortoise. Ever!013.JPG
 
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