Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, July 25

Hi Kati,

Our lilies have put on a good show this year. The tree ones are halfway to the thatch. The scent is fantastic and come in the front door. The trough at the front has busylizzies, Dot who is the master gardener is disappointed in them. All the passers-by wanted begonias again but she likes to be different.

Chris

The lilies are magnificent. The busylizzies should keep things interesting later in the season. I like them. And the baskets are wonderful, too.

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Diogenes grew a mater!

OK.
So it's not a great tomato. But it's mine!
And will go well in my omelette!

The 'mater looks tasty!

KT,

It is now potato season. I dug one of five rows, and got 20-odd pounds of "german yellow" potatoes. If you never have grown your own potatoes, you can dig them after they bloom, but if it is dry and you don't worry about wire worms, then you can dig when the vines start dying back.
Two of the rows of potatoes in the garden are sort of punk, and that is either the variety or that I didn't sprout them before planting.

The second picture is a ratchet style fruit press I picked up used at a Re-Store in town last week. It was missing the bolts that hold the halves of the basket together, so I knocked some out using salvaged heavy wire, a hammer and an angle grinder. You can do impressive things by beating on things, if you know what they are supposed to look like afterwards.

I am planning to give it a final scrub and lube with Crisco, and then see if it will press my apples.

Kindltot

The potatoes look great! Good luck with the press.

Speaking of potatoes, Kindltot does some canning, and he certainly knows that he should not can potatoes in a boiling water bath. That could kill someone! Botulism is different from run-of-the-mill food poisoning.

And botulism can also form in baked potatoes! Don't bake in foil then leave the foil on when storing them!

By-Tor continues to harvest veggies from his container garden:

Today's haul of rounds, ovals and cherries. And a couple of peppers. Slowing down, probably due to the heat. I think I will plant round two for some early fall tomatoes.

Nice color selection of tomatoes. And I wouldn't be surprised if those peppers are really hot ones.

National Moth Week

Trumpet vine on the trail this morning. I saw a Hummingbird moth too but could not get a picture.

- fd

Well, let's help you out:

If you think photographing birds in flight is difficult, you want to try moths! 😅
This is a wonderful Hummingbird Hawkmoth, photographed yesterday from my bedroom window, just as it banked around to change direction! 😀😍 Just look at that proboscis 😁🦋 pic.twitter.com/alMR4MSwQK

— Carl Bovis (@CarlBovisNature) July 22, 2026

Hummingbird Hawk-moth feeding on my buddleia this week. 😍
I've been seeing more of these day-flying moths this summer, how about you? 😀🦋 pic.twitter.com/av1a18pH0P

— Carl Bovis (@CarlBovisNature) July 24, 2026

#NationalMothWeek day 9! The final moth of the week is the truly spectacular Picasso moth (Baorisa hieroglyphica). Considered to be one of the most beautiful moths in the world. Photo: msone #MothWeek pic.twitter.com/JoWmSvBESc

— Dr. Akito Kawahara (@Dr_Akito) July 30, 2023

Happy national moth week!

Let’s see your moth captures 📸🦋 https://t.co/OyBITSkXhP pic.twitter.com/kSYuxGhqIF

— Mandy Simard (@MandyLSimard) July 18, 2026

Puttering

Cactus is the future of Leather

Cactus leather is a sustainable, cruelty-free alternative to animal leather. Made from the Nopal (prickly pear) cactus, it is durable, flexible, and breathable, making it suitable for fashion, automotive, and furniture usepic.twitter.com/Wkb5p136Tp

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 23, 2026

Gardens of The Horde

Sifty's Backyard Pond

Lovely.

Anything going on in your yard?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, July 18

I closed the comments on that 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 01:39 PM

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