My tortoise garden

[Yvonne G]

Last year I measured out a section of land, outlined it with rail road ties, incorporated horse manure into the dirt and planted a tortoise garden. I harvested lettuce and greens for about 6 months. I also planted egg plant and tomatoes, but didn't feed much of that to the tortoises.

So about a month ago, I turned over the dirt in the plot, added more decomposed horse manure, some lime and planted two rows of different kinds of lettuce, nastursiums, spring mix, turnips, collards, etc. I mixed up the seeds in a bowl and planted the mixture so when I harvest, I get a variety.

Here's what it looks like this a.m. The two rows are on the left side of the picture:

This will last all year if you're careful how you harvest it. When the plantlets are about 4" tall, I take a small bucket and a scissors. I take hold of the plant with one hand and cut off the top couple of inches with the scissors, going down a row until I've filled the bucket. Every other day I do this, starting where I left off last time. By the time I get back to the beginning of a row, the plants are ready to be cut again.

The lettuces turn bitter once the weather warms up (it gets pretty hot here), but the tortoises still eat it.

 

[ada caro]

This is awesome

 

[ascott]

Very cool Yvonne....

 

[dmarcus]

Looks like there will be a lot of good growth...

 

[tortuga_please]

Thanks for the tips, might have to try that this spring

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I plan on planting a tort garden if it ever warms up here.

 

[dmmj]

When I saw the title I thought you were planting tortoises.
Nice looking garden.

 

[Jacqui]

Did you even make a dent in your lettuce seed? Something you might try some day is to plant it in a patch rather then in rows. You don't waste as much space doing that and can thus grow more. Just a thought.

 

[Tom]

I'm really starting to get into this more and more. Threads like this one fill my head with all sorts of good ideas. Thanks for the thread.

Jacqui, I did what you suggested in a 4x8' covered enclosure last summer. I mixed up all the seeds just like Yvonne did, and it all worked great. I was using it for a baby sunning enclosure too and it got so dense in there with food that I couldn't find the babies. I had to let the adults in to mow it down.

I'm toying with different designs this year. I have 10 4x8s set up this year, so plenty of room to experiment with. I've got some done in rows so babies can move up and down the rows grazing as they go. I've some some planted in patches. I've got some planted all over, but those get too dense to use as an enclosure... Fun stuff. I'd love to see what other people are doing for this and get more tips.

 

[Jacqui]

Yvonne, looks like you could be using this rain we are having tonight. Walked out to the pickup and came back in, by then my shirt was completely drenched.

---

Jacqui, I did what you suggested in a 4x8' covered enclosure last summer. I mixed up all the seeds just like Yvonne did, and it all worked great. I was using it for a baby sunning enclosure too and it got so dense in there with food that I couldn't find the babies. I had to let the adults in to mow it down.

Two things... one since you will allow your adults to eat where the youngsters have been, why not just do some path cuttings and feed the cuttings to the other tortoises?

Second, in this case where you want to use it as an feed yourself buffet, plant a patchwork quilt. Either leaving pathways and other open areas bare or in those areas plant something slower growing or lower height growing, rather then doing it a solid patch.

 

[Yvonne G]

Did you even make a dent in your lettuce seed? Something you might try some day is to plant it in a patch rather then in rows. You don't waste as much space doing that and can thus grow more. Just a thought.

No. I still have plenty of seed left. But I DID broadcast quite a bit of it in the tortoises' grassy areas.

 

[terryo]

I can't wait until Spring so I can start planting too. Winter seems like it will never end here.

 

[Zergy]

Can't wait to see how it looks in a month.