Lightning, thunder, and rain, oh my....

Just after musing about planting fall vegetables yesterday, the sky darkened and the wind starting building up. We'd been away for an outing in the mountains, and my gardening partner headed off to get ready for class today. About 4 o'clock, it started pouring, the wind was howling, and whipping trees around, and for a minute, Mocha and I felt like we were in the Wizard of Oz. The power flickered and then went out. Not surprising, given the amount of wind. After things let up, but it was still drizzling, I ventured forth to see what had happened. My bean trellises in the vegetable garden had been flattened, amazingly, almost all the tomato supports had tilted over, and the basils were all askew. When I went down the road to check on what had knocked out the power, it was obvious we were lucky. Trees had fallen, bringing down the telephone lines, including some really large trees. This was no ordinary storm, but probably some kind of microburst that was localized in our neighborhood. The older subdivision behind us still had power; their lines are buried. The power came on again at 2 am.

There wasn't any damage in our yard, except for a branch from the old Pawlonia tree, tolerated for now, but on the way out. The GOOD news was that the storm brought another inch and a half of rain, sorely needed. Maybe I can plant those fall vegetables next weekend....

I came across a picture of one of my containers last fall-- a cheery sight!

Rain at last

It's been really dry here in the Southeast this spring and summer. We've had just enough intermittent thunderstorms to keep things from being totally crispy. Native wildflowers and shrubs are still doing fine, except for the ones that live naturally in damp places (Joe-Pye Weed, for example).

My vegetable garden, filled with domesticated plants from all sorts of places, isn't so conservative. The deep-rooted tomatoes and tough-leaved kales have been troopers; in fact this looks like it will be a great tomato year. The peppers, however, are just sulking in the hot dry weather and the last of the early summer lettuce is wilting, then bolting.

I've just amended (with compost) and sown seeds of chard, beets, and more lettuce in a couple of areas. We enjoyed the harvest of yellow fingerling potatoes this weekend -- absolutely delicious. They were grown in the "Satellite" garden (under the powerline and behind the winter honeysuckle).