Box Turtle Enclosure: Progression Thread

[Nanci]

Water strider:

 

[Nanci]

Buttercup eating yesterday's hibiscus. She is always the first one up- the early bird gets the worm!

 

[Nanci]

What a difference a year makes! This scraggley oak was dug up from my azaleas in the front, transplanted to the back, moved again to put a more desirable tree in its place, clipped with the lawnmower several times, and then I built Fort Tort around it and gave it one more chance to be good.

 

[Nanci]

Here is is today, having outgrown the fancy store-bought live oak!

 

[Nanci]

This is its mother:

 

[ZoologyMajor]

Wow awesome photos. Wish I had that kinda wildlife here. Although, I did see my first hummingbird of the year today. Time for me to set up the tripod i guess. Hopefully I get better photos than last year (bad lighting cuz the balcony is always dark).

 

[Nanci]

Planting, Irrigation

That's what I did this afternoon! Got the whole irrigation system tied in, including this feed for the pond, with an on/off valve.

 

[Nanci]

The entrance: Some herbs, sweet potato vine, moved the lights out of Terra Pen since the tomatoes had overgrown them.

 

[Nanci]

The way out the back: I always wanted one of those variegated hibiscuses! The flowers will be bright red. Another sweet potato. I haven't worked with them before- I think they can be very vigorous.

 

[Nanci]

Between the decks: Little herbs like mint and thyme and oregano.

 

[Nanci]

And the Sarassas needed some new plants too! In the back, the light green fringy thing is a Sensitive Plant. In the bottom right is a Chinese Grass.

 

[patm1313]

Wow, this is the first time I havbe seen this thread. You really have a nice backyard!

 

[Nanci]

Thanks! I built the tortoise pen (Fort Tort) last year Memorial Day week. I built Inez's Birthday Patio in August, 2007. I built Terra Pen, the box turtle enclosure April 2008 and then followed on Memorial Day week with the water garden and small deck and patio extension. I built the other deck a couple weeks ago in a weekend.

Did you read the whole thing? This is a long thread!

It's going to be really exciting when I get the "real" furniture out there.

 

[Widget]

What a wonderful way to avoid housework. I read the whole thing and all I can say is WOW!! It came out beautifully and those must be some very happy tortoise's.

I miss my garden. I can't wait until we're buying property and I get to play in the dirt again.

 

[wmdude102086]

so when is a family of beavers going to move in?? :idea:

 

[Nanci]

When I lived in Minnesota, I had beavers. Those suckers took down more trees than a tornado! No thanks!

 

[Mrs InsaneOne]

It looks awesome Nanci! The Fort Tort is looking great after a year too.

 

[Nanci]

Fort Tort had a lot of frost damage. I think the magnolia behind the bird bath is dead. The burrows have been planted twice, but the drought took out all the annuals. However, now the rainy season has started. I have some seeds of California native stuff for tortoises that I want to try planting up there. The weeping mulberry is kind of out of control- it's gotten huge! It needs some sort of support, but I can't find any stakes strong enough!

 

[Nanci]

Here's a picture of the glider I got for the deck. I originally wanted to put it at the water garden, but that old rocking chair is so dang comfortable it may be staying!

 

[Nanci]

An overview of the whole area. There really isn't anything tall I can get up on to take pictures!