Monday, July 20, 2015

A Picture Would Have Been Worth A Thousand Words

Unfortunately, I didn't think about grabbing my camera when I glanced out the window this morning and saw that the cold frame I had over the cucumbers had been blown clean off its moorings and was on end in another bed. 

So you get the thousand words (hopefully far fewer) instead of the picture.

We've had high winds since we got up this morning and much of the garden has been taking a beating.

The two trellises I have my edible podded peas on are hanging in there but swaying like drunken sailors.  (No offense to sailors as a whole, you understand.)

Some potato vines have been laid flat, but I think will be okay.

The Agribon covering on the Brussels sprouts was loosened at one end and was ready to take flight.

My sweet pea vines have lost their tenuous grip on their trellis and are being whipped about.

Even a couple of garlic stems keeled over.

Luckily, yesterday I used some rebar to stake the tomato cages.  Otherwise, the whipping of the plants would have toppled everything.

The bushy nasturtiums are tipped and showing their skinny stems to the world rather than their lovely, lush foliage.  Three big clumps of them on three separate plants broke off at ground level and are lying dead and withered.

The row of bush beans are being tossed first one way and then the other. 

My pickling cucumbers that I have been trying to talk into grabbing onto and climbing their trellis have decided the way to survive is to hug the ground as closely as they can.  I think they're trying to crawl to a calmer environment.

I'm glad I decided not to plant corn this year as it would have been flattened (again).

We do get the winds in these here parts.  I don't know if it's because we've created this big open space in the midst of the heavy woods or what.

The cold frame that took flight smooshed the ends of a couple of the cucumber vines and mashed down some of the onions in the bed where it landed.  Coulda been a lot worse.  It's not the first time one of my cold frames has suffered this fate, and it's always surprising the tumble doesn't do much damage to the frame. 

Looking on the bright side of this turbulent day, we have sunshine, the temp is a delightful 73 degrees and there's not a bug in sight.

16 comments:

Sue said...

Ack!!
What is with those crazy winds up there????
Hope all the damage done is something the plants can recover from. So hard to put those babies in the ground and then have a cranky pants Ma Nature do damage.

We went to Indiana overnight to see a friend and guess we just missed a horrible storm with 75 MPH winds. Scary. I don't miss living down below at all. It's rare for us to have crazy winds where I'm at.

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Know of any (windless) acreage in your area?

Sparkless said...

Sorry to hear your plants that have finally got growing now get flattened by wind. Just seems to be one of those years when we can't win for trying.

Carolyn said...

We had a terrible wind storm a few days ago and blew almost all the pepper plants down, some may not make it, shallow rooted and all. Glad you're bug-free (well, for a bit), but I hope you didn't blow 'em down here...although I doubt your flavor of bugs would survive any long period of time in our Africa hot temps.

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

That wind blew all those bugs out of the way totally :-)
Sorry to hear about the wind and the havoc it's caused in your garden and surrounding area. Hopefully, you'll be able to take care of those plants blown around and get them settled back so they may continue to grow without damage.

Yes, it's a good thing you didn't plant your corn. If you had, it would have been flattened.

This year the weather has been terrible for gardens across this country.

Hugs,
Sandy

Sue said...

Just around the corner from me.
GORGEOUS log home, 15 acres. And a REALLY nice neighbor that bakes THE BEST APPLE PIE on earth! Oh, and cinnamon rolls, hubby reminds!
:D

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - I don't know of a serious gardener anywhere who doesn't have challenges. Compared to those who have had their gardens flooded out or fried by heat, my garden is looking good!

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - The wind was coming straight out of the west so you're probably safe. Our bugs are probably in the Pacific Ocean by now. (Good riddance, I say.) Truthfully, the buggers no doubt headed for their underground bunkers and will be waiting for me to get out in the garden this morning being very hungry after spending yesterday with no fresh blood.

Hope your pepper plants were "bendable" enough to make it. Mine are still being killed, one by one, by whatever blight I have in their bed. Sigh.

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - Yes, as I mentioned to Sparkless above, I can't seriously whine about my garden woes this year. Others have had A LOT more difficulties!

Bateman Homestead said...

Oh my :/ Not good for your plants. We had some rough winds over the weekend that took the corn to a slanted position, but I hope it will recover. Sorry I have been so absent. Miss you :)

Lisa said...

73?!! No Bugs?!!!!! Need to come up your way!!! :) Glad no more damage was done to your garden than that. Just when ya' think things are figured out...... mother nature steps in.

Susan said...

Too bad you couldn't have let that crazy wind rip up those deck boards! I'd almost take the wind to escape the d**n bugs!

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - Yeah, that darn wind!

And, yes, you have been absent for far too long. Get back to blogging, missy!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - Yep, it seems that it's always something with the garden each year. But then again we always get more of a harvest from it than we expect. So no more whining, Mama Pea!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - The sustained winds of the past few days really dried out the garden so I was out last night after dinner with the hose trying to water everything. But the blasted no-see'ums were so bad I had to give it up. Went out first thing this morning (a calm day) and finished in bug-free-ness.

Mama Pea said...

It would be worth the move for the apple pie alone! :o}