Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, August 31

Happy Labor Day Weekend! Got guests in the back yard? Serving anything from the garden?

About the photo above:

This iron kettle has been in my family for several generations, mostly used indoor to hold kindling . I don’t have a fireplace and I don’t hang on to magazines so I drilled some holes in the bottom. The first couple of years I planted flowers directly in the kettle and, of course everything got fried because , duh, metal gets really hot in full sun. This hibiscus is in its original nursery container, and sits in a bucket. Still, I have to water it every other day, leaving at least an inch of water in the bucket. I love the red throat. The flowers are 5” across.

Liz953

I love it!

It's a holiday weekend. Time for a little humor.

Checking out the lawn while you're in the back yard? A bit of amusement for Labor Day, from The Compost Gardener. The Lawn According to God. It starts:

GOD: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.



St. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.



GOD: Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?



ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.



GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.



ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.

Read the rest at the link. Heh.

Yard and Garden Visitors

Garden Equipment

Big equipment

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

A surprise from Popular Science, with recommended herbs to grow indoors:

Fresh herbs can elevate a dish by adding a flavorful punch that dried ones can’t replicate, making culinary masterpieces a breeze, and enhancing your space. If you lack outdoor space or wish to grow herbs indoors, you’re in luck. They’re among the easiest plants to grow as long as you provide them what they need.


from The Famous Pat*

This year’s ribbons from the Western Idaho Fair. More entries, fewer ribbons. (There’s always next year!) But I still win ribbons for my carrots every year - yellows got a 1st place, “Largest Carrot" got a 2nd place, short oranges got a 3rd place, and “Best Novelty Vegetable” plus a 1st place went to a 4-tailed yellow carrot I nicknamed “Hand of Buddha”.

Congratulations! Sounds like lots of fun. After a lot of work!

By-Tor made homemake street tacos using his homegrown habaneros. SPICY!

If you're not up for habaneros, Allrecipes has bacon jam recipes and also peach salsas.

Ah, Nature

Hoya bella

Llittle white stars!

The beautiful bloom of the Hoya Bella almost seems computer generated.pic.twitter.com/HTGUrbEKEy

— Figen (@TheFigen_) August 28, 2024

Adventure

Our friends went kayaking again, and this time saw the horses. A group has been trying to get them removed from the Salt river:

Yesterday, we took another kayaking excursion down the Salt River, where we witnessed the gorgeous Salt River Wild Horses. With ancestry tracing back to Spanish settlers in the 1600s, over 300 of these wild horses roam freely along the lower Salt River. It is quite a sight to see.

Gardens of The Horde

From Neal in Israel:

Gorgeous.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, August 24

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 01:33 PM

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