Garden chat & photos for torts and people ♫ ♫

[Len B]

My first sweet potato sprouts, you got to start somewhere.

 

[Tyanna]

I can't even think about planting yet, we had an awful blizzard the whole weekend, over a foot of snow. Argh.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

! A foot! You guys must have sent a bunch over, because we were landed with around 8''. While the snow's melting, you can still plan all the fabulous things you'll be planting in spring

 

[Yvonne G]

I saw a news story yesterday that amazed me. I came in the middle of the story, so didn't see where they were talking about, but somewhere here in the states, they use earth moving equipment and dump trucks and they haul the snow away and put it into a storage area to get rid of it. They never said what happens to all the water when it melts, but can you imagine hauling snow away to the dump?

 

[Prairie Mom]

I saw a news story yesterday that amazed me. I came in the middle of the story, so didn't see where they were talking about, but somewhere here in the states, they use earth moving equipment and dump trucks and they haul the snow away and put it into a storage area to get rid of it. They never said what happens to all the water when it melts, but can you imagine hauling snow away to the dump?

THEY DO THAT HERE!!!!! (They also do that in Maine where I used to live)

First the plows come through clearing the streets, which only moves the snow into piles on the side of the road and one heaping strip in the middle (It can be pretty exciting when you have to turn LEFT!!). Then a different kind of plow slowly comes through to get the other piles. I don't know what the equipment is called, but the second plow has a deep front plow with big churning mechanisms inside it to eat up the snow and suck it into a blower on the back. As it eats the snow, it blows it into a dump truck following slowly behind it. ( --It's a bummer when you get stuck behind this crew ) Then the dump trucks haul them to city-owned fields around town where the disgusting black mountains of snow slowly melt into the first part of summer.

We pass one of these storage fields on the way to school. The mountains of snow are HUGE and disgusting. My kids keep begging to sled on them, but I tell them "NO! You'll sprout extra fingers, a third eye, and maybe even a TAIL if you touch that snow!!"

 

[Prairie Mom]

My first sweet potato sprouts, you got to start somewhere.View attachment 116837

Yay!!! I remember your last post when you where putting the potatoes "to sleep" and have been curious about their progress. I've never grown sweet potatoes and really want to. Please keep the posts coming and don't hesitate to explain as if you're instructing to a wee child

 

[Yvonne G]

So, Len: Are you going to plant these taters?

 

[Jacqui]

I saw a news story yesterday that amazed me. I came in the middle of the story, so didn't see where they were talking about, but somewhere here in the states, they use earth moving equipment and dump trucks and they haul the snow away and put it into a storage area to get rid of it. They never said what happens to all the water when it melts, but can you imagine hauling snow away to the dump?

I think any place that gets much snow does that.

 

[Jacqui]

whoooo---eeee! This catalogue has TONS of Zinnia I have never seen before. They have at least three pages just of Zinnias which are good tortoise food...

http://www.territorialseed.com/category/s/1

I've only grown the purple ones. I hope Mavis thinks they taste as good as they look. My garden just got prettier

I have never tried growing any, but think about it. It's one of those flowers that reminds me of my Grandmother. We would cut them for cut flowers inside the house.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I have never tried growing any, but think about it. It's one of those flowers that reminds me of my Grandmother. We would cut them for cut flowers inside the house.

That's awesome

 

[Len B]

So, Len: Are you going to plant these taters?

Yes, but not for a while. I plan on sticking sweet potatoes in different areas to see how they do in our clay, rock, and seashell soil. I'm not growing for more potatoes just want the vines for the tortoises. walmart has the $4 colocasia root (bulb) in stock, so I am starting some in pots in the garage and will pick up a couple more each week to start inside just in case last years don't come back. I really like the way the leaf and stem freeze and thaw out, (nice winter time treat).

 

[Yvonne G]

When colocasia come to our stores and nurseries they sell out the first day. If you're not lucky enough to have stumbled upon them, you miss out.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

hello garden people! can tortoises eat lavender plant?

 

[Prairie Mom]

hello garden people! can tortoises eat lavender plant?

Hi Nick
Yup, they're safe for them, but I would be REALLY surprised if they liked the taste. Please tell me if yours end up going for it.

I recently made a thread about pretty tortoise food in my yard and included lavender on there just because I like it Check it out when you have some time...
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...pics-of-annuals-cold-hardy-perennials.110773/

 

[Jacqui]

When colocasia come to our stores and nurseries they sell out the first day. If you're not lucky enough to have stumbled upon them, you miss out.

If you miss out and need some, let me know. Here the bulbs usually sit until clearance time. (of course now that I said that, there won't be any at all)

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

I saw your (PrarieMom!) edible plant thread, and I curious... how do you get pumpkins to grow?
We've tried pumpkin seeds out in the yard... eaten.
Behind a fence, dug up under and eaten.
I've also tried out baby watermelons. I started the seeds indoors, and then transplanted them outside. Half didn't make, and the other half got demolished by bugs. So with one left, it had several lovely yellow flowers, but someone kept eating the flowers right off, so I never exactly got watermelons.
How do you do it?

 

[Prairie Mom]

I saw your (PrarieMom!) edible plant thread, and I curious... how do you get pumpkins to grow?
We've tried pumpkin seeds out in the yard... eaten.
Behind a fence, dug up under and eaten.
I've also tried out baby watermelons. I started the seeds indoors, and then transplanted them outside. Half didn't make, and the other half got demolished by bugs. So with one left, it had several lovely yellow flowers, but someone kept eating the flowers right off, so I never exactly got watermelons.
How do you do it?

Yeesh! You have lots of critters getting your veg. I am NOT a garden expert, especially when it comes to pests. Maybe other members will speak up too! Last summer, I had whole crops of seedling broccoli and cauliflower eaten by caterpillars (cutworms), slugs, and small black beetle things. It was worst in the early Spring. My husband and I went out with flashlights during the night and actually handpicked the creepy crawlies off--so gross!!!

I don't have this perfected at all yet---I'm not super experienced, I'm just stubborn and keep working on it.
Here's a few things I've learned...

Pests:
-The bugs are the worst in the early Spring. I used to race and plant my crops the SECOND my last frost date came. Now, I either cover the seedlings with empty soda bottles at night and push the bottle into the ground a bit to protect the new young roots, or *I WAIT TO PLANT for a few weeks. Many of the new and hungry bugs move on to greener pastures while my plants are still growing under grow lights. I'll still cover up seedlings that I know bugs like to eat at night.

-***Put out OLDER plants! Bugs can eat young seedlings to the ground in a night. If the plant is older, they are less likely to do as much damage. The plant is bigger and not as tender, so they tend to go for the leaves. The older plant is more likely to recover over the summer

-If we're talking ANIMALS--I don't have deer or rabbits in my backyard where my veg is. They eat my front yard (which I don't mind sharing) and I defend my back yard only from squirrels/birds etc, so I may not be the person to ask. Most animals seem to eat my stuff at night/really early morning. So, again, if it were me, I would cover stuff up with weighted buckets at night or something like that. I make temporary cheap fences around veg and will put bird nets over my berry bushes in the back and those seem to get the job done.

About Pumpkin and Watermelon (in cold climates) specifically:

I don't know exactly how our cold climates compare. I'm also at a really high elevation (between 5-6000ft above sea lev.). In the summer, my nights are very cold. In July & August, it is very common to have nights 40's and below. If you have cooler summer nights also, this means our plants will GROW SLOWER and NOT GET NEARLY AS BIG. I gave pumpkin and watermelon seedlings that I grew to my sister who is only a state away and one zone warmer, and I was shocked to see how much bigger my seedlings grew there. One pumpkin plant grew and produced as much as 3-4 of my plants in my colder climate.

*This means we have to start our seeds indoors CRAZY EARLY. In my extreme area, I couldn't have these in my garden without grow lights inside. I have already planted my watermelon and pumpkin seeds and my last frost date is June 8th. I will get them as big and healthy as I can under grow lights, so I am putting out very mature plants (not seedlings-plants).

*Also be aware that these plants produce male flowers first. The female flowers don't come until quite a while later. So it's really important to have mature plants early on.

-It may be a lot of work, but it is so worth it to us. My kids love growing them and we save the seeds and grow the greens inside for our Sulcata during the winter.

---I hope this was helpful in some way. I know I typed a lot, but please don't hesitate to let me know if I didn't get around to what you needed to know

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Perfection! I'll let you know if I plant anything.

 

[Yvonne G]

I planted a tortoise garden last fall, and it ended up with a big bare space in the middle of the row. I like to open all my seed packets and dump them into a bowl, then plant this mish mosh in a row. So what you'll see in the picture is endive, escarole, romaine, red leaf and green leaf lettuces.

This morning I opened more packets of seeds and dumped them into a bowl: collard, turnip, endive, okra and butter crunch lettuce. I planted a whole row of these in between the existing row and the right side border.

Last week I baked an acorn squash and saved the seeds. So over on the left side between the middle and the left border I planted quite a few acorn squash seeds:



If you look closely you can see my hanging drip sprinklers doing their thing. It's 73F degrees today!!

 

[Prairie Mom]

I planted a tortoise garden last fall, and it ended up with a big bare space in the middle of the row. I like to open all my seed packets and dump them into a bowl, then plant this mish mosh in a row. So what you'll see in the picture is endive, escarole, romaine, red leaf and green leaf lettuces.

This morning I opened more packets of seeds and dumped them into a bowl: collard, turnip, endive, okra and butter crunch lettuce. I plated a whole row of these in between the existing row and the right side border.

Last week I baked an acorn squash and saved the seeds. So over on the left side between the middle and the left border I planted quite a few acorn squash seeds:

View attachment 117288

If you look closely you can see my hanging drip sprinklers doing their thing. It's 73F degrees today!!

Wow, what a beautiful day! Your post made me smile...I love the way you mix up the seeds; I need to do that for Mavis too. Also, saving the seeds from the acorn squash is very cool