Last Wednesday I had cataract surgery on my left eye and now see better than I have in years, like when I was ten years old. The next day the sight in my left eye was crystal clear and I could read the bottom line on the eye chart without glasses. Amazing! And I'd like to give a shout out to the staff at the Southern Indiana Eye Center in Bloomington, a completely professional operation at every level.
Friday afternoon a violent thunderstorm moved through this area. In a short time, it dumped 2 inches of rain with strong gusts and hail. The hail pummeled the winter squash, breaking stems and tearing up the leaves. So far the winter squash have had real problems, with a number of them rotting at the base of the stem. Last week the largest butternut wilted and died. Friday's storm took out the largest remaining squash and killed another one. with the rest of them on life support. This is the largest squash that was not killed, and it looks worse for the wear 2 days after the storm.
It a little late in the season, but I went ahead and seeded some replacements for the squash that were killed. There's still over 3 months before the first frost is remotely possible, and that's enough time to make something.
The tomatoes and peppers sustained some damage, with broken stems, but the cages held up to the winds. Some of the onions were already laying over, and the storm finished the job. I don't think they are ready to harvest just yet.
The sweet corn, which had recently tasseled out and was forming ears, was mostly leveled. I spent the evening after the storm staking them up as best I could. I'm not about to lose that corn!
Yes there were some harvests. Early last week a batch of Provider beans and the last broccoli head. Sorry about the focus, I need a new camera.
Sunday night, more Provider bush beans and the first Musica pole beans. The Fortex beans are not quite ready yet. The Musica beans make the bush beans look kind of wimpy by comparison. Since this is the first year I've grown Musica, I don't have a good sense of when to pick them. I like snap beans with seeds that are plumped out a little bit. That's when they are best in bean stews, which is how I like to make beans.
Not shown are 3 pounds of Vertina pickling cucumbers, some Jalapeno peppers and okra. Okra is still coming in at a trickle. The summer squash are having a problem with ripening at the blossom end, so nothing there.
And no tomatoes yet, but the plants still look fantastic. The Black Plum is now close to 8 feet in height, above the top of the cage with nowhere to go. I'm amazed at the vigor of this variety, and can't wait to try a ripe tomato from this plant.
5 comments:
So sorry about the storm damage--I feel your frustration and admire your strength to carry on. And it's great news about the cataract surgery. That is an impressively tall tomato!
I understand your frustration with the storm damage, Mike. We had a bad storm earlier in the year and some of our crops were flattened and an apple tree decided to lie down. It is surprising what can be rescued though...looks like you did a grand job on that corn! And great news that you can see so well again... what a lift!
Wow to those tomato plants (!) but that's so sad about your squash - summer storms can do a number on the garden. I'm having squash issues as well and I'll be lucky to get any winter squash at all - my butternuts bit the dust early on and my others just aren't growing quickly enough. It will be touch and go as to whether I get any mature fruits by the end of the season.
P.S. I'm glad your surgery went well :)
That is too bad about the storm damage. It's always bad when the winds hit the corn when it's that tall. I don't think I've ever let my Musica beans swell up like that, but the Lazy Wife Greasy beans are very tender even when the beans are full sized.
Nice looking beans. If you are expecting more rain I would pull those onions and dry under cover. Leaving them in wet ground I would be afraid of rotting. When you get tired of that rain you can send it my way.
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