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The Sky is Falling

May 28th, 2011

Last week I went over to my mom’s house to plant broccoli, kale and cauliflower in the garden. I also spent some time seeding a row of beets and mulching the overwintered leeks. We expanded the size of her garden this year, doubling it once again to have more space for things like sweet corn and sunflowers.

While I was out working the sky started to get dark. Then it started thundering. I finished what I was doing, grabbed my camera and seeds and headed indoors. Right about the time I got to the house it started pouring. I had planned on planting tomatoes and peppers that day as well, but the rain came before I could get them in the ground.

It’s actually a good thing I ran out of time because the storm was really bad. It poured and poured and then it started hailing. By the time it was over there was a layer of hail on the ground.


My tomatoes were outside, luckily, I noticed the hail I ran out and put them in the garage. They lost a few leaves but bounced back, what a tragedy it would be to lose all of my tomato and pepper seedlings! If I had planted them in the garden they would have been shredded. It’s a good things that brassicas are fairly tough plants so all of them survived. We think the beet seeds got washed away since none of them have sprouted yet.

Have you ever lost crops to hail or some other form of severe weather?

14 Comments to “The Sky is Falling”
  1. LisaAlso on May 28, 2011 at 6:16 am

    With all the storms we’ve had in West Tennessee this year, I actually had tomato plants drown in raised beds. Thankfully, I only lost a few tomatoes, but I also lost my cucumber and watermelon plants when they washed away completely! Never had that happen before.

    Glad your timing was right to save your plants!

    Reply to LisaAlso's comment

  2. KimH on May 28, 2011 at 7:35 am

    Sure.. I’ve been gardening at least 25 years on my own so over the years, here & there, I’ve had to replace plants due to weather or cut worms.
    Thankfully my few tomato & lettuce plants I started & planted this year came thru that storm on Wed. with no problems. A neighbors tree branch is on top of another neighbors house.. but my 6 little plants are doing fine.
    I may have to replant some spaghetti squash though cuz it looked like a small lake where they were planted. ;) Time’ll tell.

    Reply to KimH's comment

  3. Nebraska Dave on May 28, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Susy, this year has been a challenge for sure with all the weather issues around the country. I’ve been lucky this year and even though we had some hail here it was only a short burst and smaller than pea size. The rains have been gentle and the wind has been tolerable. If I can just defeat the rabbit population I just might have a great harvest year. I see that one rabbit has taken up residence in my yard. So far my netting over the lettuce has kept the little bugger from munching down the salad buffet. Over the years of gardening I’ve had more trouble with critters than weather. Urban gardening is very susceptible to rabbits, raccoon, and possum due to not having their predictors around. At least I don’t have deer issues.

    Thank goodness you saved the plants. Have a great holiday weekend.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  4. Kat on May 28, 2011 at 10:53 am

    We don’t have a big garden–just a dozen tomato plants, a few peppers, some turnips and beets and such, but with the storms in East Tennessee and the bigger-than-golfball-sized hail a few weeks ago, I lost all but two or three of the tomato plants, about a third of the garlic, and a few other things. Everything just got pummeled into the ground…
    We’ve recovered well since then, still waiting for the roof to be replaced on the house, but everything else is fine. Glad that it wasn’t too bad for you, and that the tomatoes were saved!

    Reply to Kat's comment

  5. risa b on May 28, 2011 at 11:26 am

    Sadly, I believe this sort of thing will be on the increase.

    Reply to risa b's comment

  6. goatpod2 on May 28, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Haven’t lost any crops to severe weather here in our valley but then again we don’t get the same weather as people do in town though.

    Amy

    Reply to goatpod2's comment

  7. Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig on May 28, 2011 at 11:43 am

    In April my son and I planted two rows of snap peas and a few sunflowers. Then we had a week or more of rain, rain, rain. 3 peas came up…and that’s it. I’ve got like 5 snap peas ready to pick…but that’s about it, I think.

    Reply to Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig's comment

  8. judym on May 28, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Glad you faired well! So far we’re doing ok here. We did get a deluge though. We have four 300+ tanks – They were completely full when we checked the next day (just a few gallons earlier)!!! Great pix of Mom’s back yard!

    Reply to judym's comment

  9. MAYBELLINE on May 28, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    Typically any plants I lose are because of sunburn or frost/freeze. I know. Two extremes.

    Reply to MAYBELLINE's comment

  10. Candie on May 28, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    We live in Dayton and that same hail almost got my cabbage! I was running round throwing tablecloths over my plants lol.

    Reply to Candie's comment

  11. Christina on May 28, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    I had a huge gust take down my greenhouse shelf last weekend (plastic utility shelf wrapped in painter’s plastic), upending my thriving melon plants, herbs, alyssum sprouts, lettuce sprouts, peppers. I had to do a rapid triage and recovery as I had to leave for a recital in 45 minutes (44 minutes on plants, 1 minute swapping back to clean clothes and scrubbing my nails). I had been prepared to put things in the ground next day, but left them alone for a week to recover from that shock before transplanting. I had to repot at least 3/4 of the stuff, tons of exposed roots, etc., but everything seems to be doing fine!

    Reply to Christina's comment

  12. Xan on May 29, 2011 at 9:01 am

    We play weather roulette with our annual garden party, because in late July, early August, there is ALWAYS a storm that takes out a good bit of the garden. We tend not to get the severe weather during planting season, but frankly all the weather has been so weird lately that I basically assume anything can happen. Glad your mom’s garden bounced back!

    Reply to Xan's comment

  13. Andrea on June 1, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    My balcony garden took a major blow that day too! My tomato plant has perked back up wonerfully! Unfortunately some of my other babies are desperately needing some coddling with this hot streak we’re having in the south. Ugh I can’t even get some if my new seedling outside because I’m afraid they’ll bake!

    Reply to Andrea's comment

  14. Edible Garden Update | Chiot's Run on June 8, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    […] last month. I planted the tomatoes and peppers that I started from seed. I also reseeded the beets that got washed away in the huge rain storm. Beet varieties we’re […]

    Reply to Edible Garden Update | Chiot’s Run's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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