Help with outdoor enclosure please

[alberts mamma]

Hi all I am after some advise on plants ect my Tort can have in his outdoor enclosure, that I havent sorted yet but we are looking at a large run with a shaded area ..basic really but I want to enrich his time out doors the best I can. He loves his grub and eats weeds like they are going out of fashion..but I want to plant some plants that are hardy enough to withstand his nibbles!

Hes been out before free to roam the garden but the dog takes too much interest in him and he gets miffed with me for moving him away from the flowers....

Any suggestions would be great, and also would I need to buy specially grown/ organic plants? as I dont want to make him poorly by buying something covered in toxins..

ps Albert the Tort is a Hermanns in case this makes a difference

Thanks for reading x

[Tina]

These have a good list of garden plants and weeds...

edible plants

Diet and healthy growth

Any plants I buy I repot in topsoil and weather off/wait for new growth before I feed so if you start buying now you have time to do that. I've bought quite a lot of annuals already as plug plants... fuschia, petunia, pelargonium, pansies, violas etc so that I can grow them on and know they'll be fine by the time they're fed to the torts.

[alberts mamma]

Thanks so much! Im going to print the list off and go pick some up tomorrow hopefully!

Do you leave yours in tubs/pots or plant them directly in the ground...my garden hasnt seen any weedkiller for years lol its banned since I found out the Torts better off with weeds so It should be safe!, as i intend on putting some kind of netting over the run/ outdoor enclosure (to stop the local cats pooping in his new place and going near him when his out) once new growth has started then its safe for him to munch on Great!...Im so excited I bet he turns his nose up at it when its done!.......

Also theres a stoney patch towards the top of my garden, they are too big to be mistakenly eaten, but would they cause a problem as the top of the garden is where I had planned for Alberts new enclosure thingy to go...I cant see me collecting all the stones and getting rid so if its a problem we will have a rethink about where we are going to put it.....

Thanks for reading (sorry for going on abit!)

[Tina]

I have some planted in the ground like echevera, hebe, dwarf conifers for them to dig down under and weeds for them to eat growing in the enclosure. The plants are in pots or in the garden so that they don't eat them all in one go and I can feed a different variety over a weekly cycle. My hermanns all time favourite are honeysuckle flowers so it's well worth growing one of those (I don't feed the leaves though as there's some confusion as to whether they're toxic or not).

A rocky area sounds good... a different surface for Albert to move around on and a good place for his nails to wear down.

Have fun planning!

[alberts mamma]

I seriously cannot believe how excited I am....!

Damn It im sure this officially means ive lost my marbles and I am going to end up like the cat lady off The Simpsons only with Torts and weeds instead of cats........is there no hope for me?...

oh well I dont care anyway!