Growing food for winter

[LiamJMcIntyre]

Hey guys!
Could anyone tell me when I should be sowing seeds for winter? As I would want to be prepared and not to miss an opportunity and be left without a variety of food for Albert
Also could someone send me a ink to a good fact sheet about hibernation. Because Albert is at an unknown age and we haven't had him for long after he was poorly kept by his previous owners I am not hibernating him this year. Is this a god decision?

 

[Prairie Mom]

Hello, Sorry I can't help with the hibernation question. As for the seeds, I grow seeds all winter. I'll probably begin starting a few seeds toward the end of August, but I also get earlier snow storms than most people on the forum.

What I AM doing right now is digging up a few of my favorite weeds and planting them in pots, so they get over any transplant shock and have a chance to grow in the natural sunlight before bringing them indoors this Autumn. I also have potted some of my tortoise's favorite flowers so I can bring them in once the weather turns cold.

 

[Prairie Mom]

In regards to your hibernation question, I bet you would get some great help if you started a thread devoted to that question in the Russian Tortoise section. There are some care sheets there also that you may find helpful. Here is a link to that part of the forum if you are still figuring out your way around....
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/forums/russian-tortoises.81/

 

[Odin's Gma]

Hey guys!
Could anyone tell me when I should be sowing seeds for winter? As I would want to be prepared and not to miss an opportunity and be left without a variety of food for Albert

The sooner the better. Some plants take months to get to a size where you can safely harvest (with my agave it could be years!), others only take weeks. The fastest sprouting ones I have used are some grasses, radish and clover, taking only days to sprout and munch (as long as you don't mind reseeding almost constantly).
Like @Prairie Mom, winters here can start as early as October, so this past spring I purchased a few plants (another hibiscus, some Hens and Chicks, 4 different types of aloe and a few more african violets) to give them at least 6 months to work out any possible pesticides they may have absorbed (after repotting, of course)
I start seeds all year, as a matter of fact I recently started some hardy cactus seeds to get them ready to plant outside next spring and in a month or two I am going to start a few hardy mulberry seeds indoors for outside in the spring just in case the seedlings I direct sowed don't make it through the winter.

This is my indoor gardening thread, hopefully it will give you some ideas.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/gmas-indoor-winter-gardening-and-sulcata-brag-thread.112815/