Guinea Gardeners: Growing for Piggies

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Laura-CCC4

Laura-CCC4

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It is the goal of myself and many others to attempt to grow their own fresh fruit and veg for their guinea pigs this year, or at some point in the future.

This thread is hopefully going to become a place full of tips from long-standing guinea gardeners, ideas on good methods and conditions for growing, sources for seeds, when to sow seeds, and plenty of progress on how new guinea gardeners are getting along.

Anyone is welcome to join or follow the Guinea Gardeners Club. :)
 
Although it is not fruit or veg, Guinea Grass Growers can also get involved.

I've just bought some grass seeds (and a compost brick) from
http://www.planetguinea.co.uk/

Any tips for growing grass indoors? Anyone else already do this?


(P.S. Maybe I should change my username to Laura-GGG4. :(|) )
 
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I would like to join, but I'm hopeless at gardening but hopefully i will be successful this year at trying to grow herbs and other veg for the piggys.

I shall keep a close eye on this thread as I'm sure someone with green fingers will be along shortly with some good tips. :))

I shall be checking out that link Laura as i would love to grow some grass.

Pampered piggys is going to be selling seeds etc from march.
 
I did notice Pampered Piggies were going to be selling seeds, it will be interesting to keep an eye on that and see if Sally has any tips to share.

I'm so not green-fingered it's not funny, but I'm determined to at least try to change that. The idea of a huge veggie patch and lots of grass just for the piggies is so appealing.

I hope we get lots of tips from those with green fingers, as I think it'd be a really interesting project for lots of us to try!

The Planet Guinea seeds come with full instructions, and I bought a compact "brick" of compost, but no idea on the size for pots/trays and ideal locations in the house etc.

Last month I also bought some fruit/veggie seeds from www.simplyseed.co.uk - great value. Just got to figure out how to get actual fruits and veggies out of them. :))
 
i have attempted to plant some parsley seeds in a tub on my kitchen window sill,it said it takes 14-28days to grow and its been about 28days now and still no sign :( I'm most certainly not green fingered :(
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
ETA: the link to Planet Guinea in my first 'reply', post #2 is wrong, should have checked before I posted. It should be:

www.planetguinea.co.uk
Click to expand...

We sometimes get seeds donated from PlanetGuinea as they list various items which can be added to your order but donated straight to us and to Thistle Cavies...

http://www.planetguinea.co.uk/p/category/0710076309-Guinea+Pig+Welfare/

The last lot of seeds I was able to put in the adoption pack for some piggies that were going to an indoor home, as she was keen to try some home grown grass for them!

Great idea Laura, look forward to seeing progress!

Sophie
x
 
Well hopefully my dad will be able to pass his tips on, as last year he started to grow salad veg and he done really well, the pigs had celery. :)

I was told that lettuce is really easy to grow but i bet the slugs/snails will get mine.

The link for planet guinea didnt work, it said not found when i pressed it. :(

I too think that a BIG patch full of fresh veg for the pigs will look great. :))
 
Every summer we grow our own fruit and veg. Toms, strawberrys, cabbages, carrots...loads of stuff. They go nuts for it!

Will start growing stuff at the beginning of spring I think (as long as the weather is warm).
 
Ooh, you may be very useful to us novices, Corinne. :))

When would you generally start sowing the seeds to grow your own fruit and veg? Obvious it varies with what you'd like to grow, but what sort of things can you sow the earliest? Do you grow your fruit and veg outdoors or in a greenhouse?

See, total novice here. rolleyes

Sam - the link in post#6 is correct. Will kindly ask a mod to change the link in my original post!
 
You must share your tips with us Cozmo.

Thanks for the other link Laura I'm having a look at the seed now. :)
 
LOL well its my other half thats better at it cuz his mum was a keen gardener. I just plant them and hope for the best...lol.

I must admit it does feel quite rewarding when you grow your own! I think it tastes so much more better than shop bought too!
 
Sorry forgot to add...

I usually plant the seeds in small plant pots to see if they do grow (as sometimes seeds are duds). I usually start off with tomatoes and Strawberrys first. They seem to be the easiest to grow. Peppers I find really hard, and they usually die cuz I get so frustrated with them. Carrots you wanna plant in something long (like a dustbin) as the longer the thing they are planted in, the longer the carrots will grow (apparently but mine were tiny last year). Then once they are a few inches long/high/whatever, take the plant with the soil out of the pot and plant them in the ground.

We don't have a green house so everything is put in the garden (but The Range do small plastic tall thingies that are the same as greenhouses and I think we'll get one as they are only £15). As for when to start, I wait until the weather is regularly warmer, like mid/late Spring. Cuz hopefully from then on the weather will be nice. You have to make sure you water them every day of course, unless it rains heavily, then they can skip a day (unless it rains alot day after day).

One tip about slugs (As they are *******s our way! Got to our Cabbages and RUINED them last year), small dish of beer...gets them every time apparently (but didn't find out until it was too late last year!). OR You can put broken egg shells round your plants as the slugs hate the feel of it and leave the plants alone.
 
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This has just reminded me of when I was little and I used to 'grow' dandelions for the guineas, much to my dad's horror (he had a veggie patch that was weed free!) :))
 
I had a go at growing my own stuff last year, my potatoes did really well but growing salad stuff was just a pain- kept getting attacked by horrible caterpillar things (Every leaf was covered in them!) it was quite expensive to buy pots and compost as well, I also tried growing herbs but they kept getting attacked by greenfly and that was in the house! My strawberries did ok but didn't get alot for the money I spent on the plants- only a bowl or two and I grew onions with the strawberries and they did well (Greenfly don't like onion/garlicky smells and it did keep them away!)

Anyway I’m not sure if I’m going to try again this year- got really fed up with pests getting to the herbs and veg before me :(
 
I'm going to try and grow some parsley indoors as I don't have any outside space of my own. My parents grow veg so my dad's going to start my pots off hopefully. I haven't inherited green-fingers, just bunions.
Anyone grow anything else inside successfully?
 
Chilli plants do well inside but need a bit of space! They don't do so well without protection outside.
 
They had lots of seeds in Wilkinson's. I was looking at them the other day and thought i shall buy some when the weather is nice.

Was going to get cucumber, different lettuces and herbs.

Joanne i will be interested in seeing your results of the grass growing. :)
 
Ooh! I'm actually quite excited about this (sad - I know :)) )

I called in the garden centre on Sunday and picked up some seed trays and seeds. I got Parsley, Carrots, Pepper and Kale. I believe Kale is quite easy to grow but I'll believe it when I see it rolleyes like most here, I'm not the most green fingered!

I did manage to grow mini carrots last year in a little window-box style planter though. Worked quite well as they don't need the depth of soil of regular carrots and the girls preferred the tops to the actual carrot anyway

Come on Spring! I wanna plant stuff!
 
Little Piggles said:
Ooh! I'm actually quite excited about this (sad - I know :)) )

I called in the garden centre on Sunday and picked up some seed trays and seeds. I got Parsley, Carrots, Pepper and Kale. I believe Kale is quite easy to grow but I'll believe it when I see it rolleyes like most here, I'm not the most green fingered!

I did manage to grow mini carrots last year in a little window-box style planter though. Worked quite well as they don't need the depth of soil of regular carrots and the girls preferred the tops to the actual carrot anyway

Come on Spring! I wanna plant stuff!
Click to expand...

Am I right in thinking...... We can't pot anything untill spring or can I plant my grass?
 
I think you'll be okay with grass - especially if you're starting it off indoors.

I grew some oat grass on our kitchen windowsill in November and it came up great :)
 
aw I'm sorry :( It came up really quickly -started to grow within days, but didn't last long ;)

I think I got a dodgy pack as only half came up though. It was one of those 'Just add water' jobbies, I didn't plant it myself.

It grew to about 10 or 15cm tall but my greedy girls gobbled it all up!
 
I've grown stuff on my balcony two summers now and it's gone mostly fab! This summer I'm making some changes. Ditching the tomatoes ans they took too much watering and care for WAY too long, and I'm gonna plant -grass- so that I have it at hand for rainy and lazy days... I've been very successful with spinach and kale/chard (I get confused as USA/UK and NZ/Oz all seem to use different names for this veggie!) Parsley is fab and grows way into november even in Sweden. Snowpeas are also nice. I try to focus on growing stuff that's hard to get organic or really expensive, like leafy greens and snowpeas. I grow carrot tops all year round for the greens, but for the carrots themselves I just go to the supermarket. Organic carrots are everywhere and reasonably priced.
 
I am at the moment growing on my desk (haha) Parsley, Cress and Oregano!

I got some mud from out side shoved it in an old litter tray we had (cleaned out ofc) then stuck the seeds in it and shoved a carrryer bag over the top! That was on Sunday and I have shoots already! :)):)) Will take some pics when they grown a little more!

I dont really have green fingers but everyone else does! My grandad grows about 90% of our veggies for summer! and about 50% in the winter months!
 
I am useless at growing stuff, but here is a useful link: http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/
They sell all kinds of seeds, including 'weed' seeds that guineas like, such as dandelion. (They also do a grazing mix, but I'm not sure all the plants in it are safe; last time I checked, some were on a list of ones you shouldn't give to guineas.)
 
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