Saturday, June 23, 2012

Apres- Storm

We were hit yesterday with a brief but intense storm. Winds were torrential, almost tropical storm force, trees were down, roads were closed and we lost our electricity from 5pm until about 9am today. One friend said a tree in front of her house literally exploded. Sounds like a lightning strike to me. Our small town and the one next to us were said to be two of the hardest hit in the (admittedly small) state.
I shouldn't get so worked up about power outages, but CT got the worst of Hurricane Irene last fall and we had no power for eight days. There's a lot of outrage in this state over how our electric company operates when we pay some of the highest rates in the country. After Irene, we had a freak early snowstorm in October and again most of the state lost power for over a week. We were lucky here to avoid that, but we get pretty testy lately. A good part of the problem is that we are a heavily wooded state and it's the downed trees and branches that cause the outages. Years ago the electric company was diligent to trim branches and take down trees that were close to the wires, but in today's cut the expenses at any cost to maximize the profits world, this is seen more and more rarely. And we are paying the price.
Anyway...The damage in the garden wasn't too bad. My onions were flattened, but today they're making a valiant effort to rise up again. You'll see I had some pepper and eggplants knocked over. And you'll wonder how this can be, when I have a nice little stake next to each one. Why didn't she tie them up you'll ask? Well, I'm asking that too! But honestly, I didn't think I'd need to tie them this early in the game. Ah, but we live and learn!
Flattended onion plants struggling to stand up again
Unhappy little eggplant
Yeah, there's that useless stake alright!
Another sad little pepper

And please disregard all those weeds you see in the walking paths! I just can't seem to keep up with them this year!

10 comments:

  1. You're very lucky the damage wasn't worse. We were expecting high wind gusts and possible hail, but just ended up with a nice rain. Wind can really do a lot of damage though, just take a look at my very first blog post in 2008. At least my loss resulted in a new garden area.

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    1. You're right Granny, I do feel I'm lucky there. Actually, the reason I put the stakes in for the eggplant and peppers was because of hurricane Irene last year, when I didn't stake at all. But I was lucky then, too, because everything survived OK.

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  2. Looks like the same storm that mowed my garden down hit your area - it was traveling east. Stake the peppers and tie them and they should bounce back. Potatoes should be ok even if they're on the ground - they'll still grow bulbs.

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    1. I will certainly be tying them today or tomorrow! Thanks for the info on the potatoes; hopefully no more big storms for awhile!

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  3. We lose power all the time and it is never on that quickly here. A couple days is not uncommon.
    Right now we would be happy to have a little of that rain.

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    1. You are right Becky, and I am quite grateful for the rain. It had been getting pretty dry around here with those high temps we had last week! I hope you get your rain soon!

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  4. Hi Nutmeg Gardener, Sorry your plants got knocked over. Hope they do bounce back for you. I hate it when the electricity goes off. I like all my modern conveniences! Nancy

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    1. I think they will be alright after all. It's amazing what just a few minutes of mother nature acting up will do! I do admit, I am spoiled when it comes to my electricity! I like my shower and my reading lights too much!

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  5. Those bad storms went right around us. I was hoping for some rain and also hoping for no damage. We didn't get either.

    Just stake those peppers and you will be back in business! You are lucky there wasn't any hail.

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    1. I hope you get your rain without wind Robin! We did get hail in my town, but somehow not at my place.

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