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:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

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

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Penis 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 use

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at July 25, 2026 01:45 PM (OKkSB)

2 Thank you for the garden thread KT.

Pretty veggies and flowers.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at July 25, 2026 01:51 PM (NnhvP)

3 Sifty's cat is up to something.

I mean, they all are.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 25, 2026 01:51 PM (kpS4V)

4 Chris, the color palette of your lilies is gorgeous. Feels kind of Victorian.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 25, 2026 01:52 PM (kpS4V)

5 85° 40% humidity in van nuys.
More miserable than it might sound.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at July 25, 2026 01:52 PM (OKkSB)

6 Good afternoon Greenthumbs
If nothing else had to get a new tractor batter as been using truck to jump start it all year. Not doing it with the car.
So far onlyy did front part yesterday.

Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 01:57 PM (Ia/+0)

7 My tomatoes are ripening all at once! I foresee freezing bags full for future sauce making.

My Rebel Starfighter Prime tomatoes, which are sort of an Oxheart shape, are huge this year. This has been my best season for gardening in ages. I think it was all that rain.

Another Star Wars-themed mater I ordered seeds for is called Rebel Scum Wookie Balls. I'm already planning next year's list of tomatoes.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 25, 2026 01:57 PM (kpS4V)

8 Beautiful photos this week, especially the moth pictures.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 25, 2026 02:02 PM (oTS6U)

9 Hey! I just made a great comment on the previous thread. Everybody get back there!

Posted by: Chairborne!...Desk From Above! at July 25, 2026 02:05 PM (HnIBa)

10 My gardening news is falling off a ladder while trying to trim back ivy climbing over the top of ten foot fence. A big clump of ornamental grass broke the fall and saved me from an ER visit.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at July 25, 2026 02:22 PM (XvL8K)

11 My tomatoes look like they are trying to grow in hell. Baby cucumbers shrivel on the vine before they can make. Cayennes look good, but they aren't in picking mode quite yet. I do have bean blooms, but the fence is hot for the vines to crawl up very fast. I'm sure it will cool down, but I'm ready now.

Posted by: huerfano at July 25, 2026 02:23 PM (VJX5o)

12 Rebel Starfighter Prime - Let us know how they taste!

Posted by: KT at July 25, 2026 02:23 PM (rdeQO)

13 KT,
Thanks for the previous thread and this one. The first one made me think. (God help us all.) The gardening thread is so beautiful to look at, especially when I don't have my own garden. Each week has photos that would be appropriate for a Dutch Golden Age still life painting. Those hummingbird moths look like something out of Fantasia.

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 02:33 PM (yTvNw)

14 Mothra!!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 25, 2026 02:34 PM (JvZF+)

15 The 'mater was tasty!

Posted by: Diogenes at July 25, 2026 02:35 PM (2WIwB)

16 There will be fresh picked tomatoes for lunch today.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 25, 2026 02:38 PM (JvZF+)

17 The local crepe myrtles continue to be resplendent, even the little one in our back yard. I thought the unusual harsh winter might kill it off but it came through just fine. It's been a good year for shrubs in our area between the lilacs, rose of sharon and the crepes.

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 02:39 PM (yTvNw)

18 I hope they take the prickles off the cactus leather. Especially on the inside.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 02:43 PM (yiEEK)

19 That video about making leather from cactus was fascinating. Who would have thought. I do wonder who came up with the process in the first place. It's not exactly a natural process.

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 02:46 PM (yTvNw)

20 Mine is still weed filled. I am reading the Regenerative Gardener's Handbook. She has a solution for bindweed, which is to plant big bluestem and switchgrass. These should outgrow the bindweed when established and crowd it out. I've ordered some for next year. We have three triple digit days in a row, starting today. I will have to keep up with watering.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 25, 2026 02:47 PM (bkuEU)

21 20 ... Notsothoreau,
Please let us know how crowding out bind weed works out. The flowers are pretty but the damn things just take over everything. At least when mint does that it smells good.

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 02:56 PM (yTvNw)

22 Home is in the title, and thread is full of many pleasures of homes and gardens. I'm spending my time on the less pleasurable.
I have a city lot, 100 by 80. Sixty odd years ago, a four inch deep ten inch wide concrete footing was run around three sides of the property, and every eight feet a two inch steel pipe was set in said footing, and a wood fence hung upon them.
Over the last fifteen years, I have been having to replace a steel post that rusted.through. it's a pain, break the concrete, dig out old post, install four by four wood post, rebuild fence.
Last winter four posts went.

Posted by: From about That Time at July 25, 2026 02:57 PM (sl73Y)

23 So many beautiful pictures. My favorites are the lilies (
my favorite flowers). And the Picasso moth.

Posted by: AlmostYuman at July 25, 2026 02:58 PM (xEtvN)

24 Did I mention it's been hot out.

Posted by: From about That Time at July 25, 2026 02:59 PM (sl73Y)

25 Did I mention it's been hot out
#metoo

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at July 25, 2026 03:04 PM (zL1Ce)

26 When you read about it, it seems hopeless. Roots can go down 15 feet and it can grow from bits of the plant. But when I look around here, it hasn't taken over the countryside yet. If you mow and it's hot, I think it dries up before it can regrow. In a milder area, you would want to bag up the clippings. Those two grasses are prairie grasses and I knew where I could order seed.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 25, 2026 03:07 PM (bkuEU)

27 Finally finished running tractor around,

Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 03:11 PM (Ia/+0)

28 PET NOOD IS UP

Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 03:33 PM (Ia/+0)

29 Biff Pocoroba at July 25, 2026 02:22 PM

No more falling off ladders, please!

Posted by: KT at July 25, 2026 03:40 PM (rdeQO)

30 Mulching the roots of tomatoes, misting in the afternoon and rigging up a little shade sometimes helps this time of year.

Posted by: KT at July 25, 2026 03:41 PM (rdeQO)

31 I had never heard of the fatal botulism potato salad incident. We have some people in The Horde who are familiar with the safety guidelines for canning. Check with them before trying it yourself!

Posted by: KT at July 25, 2026 03:43 PM (rdeQO)

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