Gardening

[Elora]

Hey guys I was wondering if any of you have gardens, and if you grow greens for your beardies. I want to start to grow some food for them when the spring comes. Does anyone have any tips or can share their experience with growing food for their breadies and what they usually grow? Any pictures on how the garden is set up would be nice I bought endive/escarole mixed seeds, mustard greens and collard greens. My mom also plants strawberries tomatoes, peppers, squash ect.. Im just not sure on how to care for the kinds of plants that the beardies can eat. I looked some up on the web but I thought the best way to get good info would be by asking you guys!

 

[acetharula28]

i have a very large garden/ farm. where do you live?

 

[Elora]

Western NY

 

[acetharula28]

ok so it does get a tadd rainy in spring? you might wanna try to grow your things in the mid to end of april. these are all fast growing veggies, when it comes to fall and winter and the temps start to drop, go to a hardwear store to get some "frost cloth" (you can have each plant for quit a while) this allows light to come in but it also gives it quit a bit of heat under there, also in the colder months you might want to put some leaf litter or hay if you can, leaves are better because they will usually decompost before you take the frost cloth off. if you want to speed up the prossese then see if you can get your hands on some bone meal, this is an organic fertalizer that is made if bone marrow so you dont need to worry about it hurting your BD. it actually might give the greens a little calcium boost, not to much of one though, you will need to place all the seeds about 6 inches as these plants can get a bit big. as for where you put the seeds is your prefrance. if it is going to be a small garden that is only two rows then that is fine but any more you need to give yourself some room to walk in between the rows.

 

[Elora]

Wow thanks! Any idea where I can get bone meal?

 

[pscaulkins]

I grew collard greens and mustard greens in raised garden beds. I didn't get them built until May and by the end of May I was picking collard leaves. I had collards until October and the plants grew to over 3' tall. I had 12 plants in a 3' x 12' raised bed. They fed two adult dragons most of spring into fall when I pulled them but I could have had them longer.

 

[neecie]

Bone meal is at all the gardening stores. Only use organic fertilizer and NEVER FEED THE TOMATO LEAVES TO BEARDIE........TOXIC.

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...I live in Mississippi so summers are hot. I planted 1 row of collards & 1 row of mustard greens in March...about 15' rows. I fed my tortoises & dragons on them all summer. The greens did die out in the heat the end of Aug. In Oct I planted 2 15" rows of collards & 1 row of mustard greens, as well as muselix (sp?) which is like spring mix. I planted the rows about 18" apart. They are still producing without needing to cover them. I only bought 3 bags of greens from the store this winter, when I was expecting days of rain. I would melt if I tried to pick greens in the rain for all my dragons & tortoises!!

I also planted carrots in Oct, but the dragons don't seem to like carrot tops. A couple of the tortoises like them. I use the carrots for feeding crickets & superworms. I also planted baby pumpkins & butternut, summer, & zucchini squashes in March. I cut & steamed the squashes, as well as pumpkin and froze it for this winter. They have enjoyed it and I still have enough to last til the next crop is ready.

I lived in NY state for a while. Most people have basements which stay cool but usually isn't freezing so veggies can be stored there for quite a while.

And by feeding the pumpkin, all 10 fecals I did last week on my dragons were negative for parasites. I am pretty sure the others are negative as well.

Since we can't use fertilizers, I bought lots of bagged cow manure from Walmart...about $1 for a 40lb bag. Home Depot also carries it for a few pennies more.

Good luck
Patsy