70+ MPH Storm - Weather damage at the Muddy Bucket Farm

[ContainerTed]

Yesterday, we had a severe storm come thru and it has blown down half the garden. The wind gusts were well above 70 MPH and we got about 1.5 inches of rain - all inside approx 60 minutes. I got a lot of broken tomato vines and lost some green fruit, but was otherwise very fortunate not to lose a whole plant.

This is the same storm that killed at least two campers over in the Cades Cove area of the Smokey Mountains. There are some pictures below that show the garden as I found it at first light this morning.

Fortunately, none of the dwarf varieties got hit too badly. I had several of the support poles broken off at the ground and some that were simply pulled up out of the ground. How do you do that???? All of the dwarfs will be fine, but my "indeterminates and Cherry types" took a heavy beating. I repaired most of the ones pictured below, but I will probably allow many to just sprawl because I think I would do more damage trying to get things back in the air on some of them.

I think the corn is totally lost. All of the stalks are broken at the ground. Maybe a few will come back, but my expectations are not very high. On a positive note, the Okra came thru just fine.

Here's the pictures. The first two show the damage across the street at my neighbors house - a bradford pear and an oak tree. He also lost a dogwood. The last one shows a pile of limbs that were broken out of the back yard maple and pine trees.

[akgardengirl]

Geez Ted...so sorry about all your hard work gone or damaged in one night. Did you all hang out in the basement while this was going on? I guess you have a lot of work cut out for yourself cleaning up all the mess. Take care
Sue B.

[Sun City Linda]

Wow Ted. As with Lurley, so sorry for the loss and the work but thankful you and your family are OK.

[Sherry_AK]

Ted -- I'm so sorry this happened to you. It must have been heart-breaking to see the damage. Glad you're OK though, and it sounds like you've got a plan for recovery of the garden.

Sherry

[babice]

Oh no - another darned Derecho? What a year, eh? Oh man. I'm so sorry to see the losses and damage. And I'm SOO glad you and yours are all okay!

[guruofgardens]

Ted,
I know we gardeners are so very sorry your hard work has been compromised. Sad and frustrating, to say the least. Please know that we're all thinking of you and so glad you're doing well.

[PA_Julia]

Ted,

I'm so sorry to hear this.
My thoughts are with you.


Julia

[Medbury Gardens]

Its heart braking when that type of weather hits,certainly sad looking photos Ted

[kath]

That's so scary! My condolences, too- those pictures are heart-breaking, Ted. I hope you'll be able to manage to get some fruits from everything. It must be daunting to think about dealing with cleanup.

[Tapout]

Does home owners insurance cover a large garden?

[jerryinfla]

That's a heart breaker, Ted; however, if anyone can recover from the damage my money says you can do it. We're just happy neither you nor yours were physically injured.

[ContainerTed]

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts. I've spent about 7 hours down there trying to recover with these results.

1. All of the dwarf plants are okay. Some of them have a lot of dirt on them from being down, but they will be just fine.

2. The indeterminates are so twisted and entangled that I've decided to let them sprawl. The tomato loss is going to be about 10% of the green fruit that were there. That means a few batches of "fried green tomatoes".

3. The corn is a 70% loss at best.

4. The okra was back to blooming today.

5. The rattlesnake beans are relatively undamaged.

So, what looked like a total disaster has been averted by a lot of sweat today. Now, I need a shower and something to eat. The temp hit 98F down there today with a humidity of 70% (all that rain evaporatig).

Thanks again for the kind words.

[RobinB]

Ted,
I'm glad it wasn't as bad as it seemed at first, and really glad that you and your family are okay. Those dwarves are really tough little guys, aren't they?

Maybe some green tomato relish?

[koshki]

Oh, what a bummer! I guess it's for reasons like this that we gardeners "over plant", LOL! Glad to hear the damage wasn't too severe, and that you're ok.

[meadowyck]

Glad to know you are ok, but it doesn't sound so good for your garden, however, maybe another good thing to add to the dwarf's "they can handle 70 mph winds and keep growing...." LOL

I think leaving the tomatoes that are down is wise, I would lay straw down under them to help keep them from laying directly on the ground so that maybe you can still harvest.