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Weather damage

Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
in Fruit & veg

I have just done a quick reccie around the garden after the torrential rain and storm force wind.

My young apple tree with its first proper crop of apples has been blown over to the side despite being staked. One of my sweetcorn plants has been blown over, soggy sweetpeas, one runner bean wigwam leaning, retrieved a plastic cold frame top from where it had been blown, so guess what I shall be doing tomorrow.

It is still blowing a hooley but the rain has eased and it is very warm. Not nice.

I am sure the runner beans have grown 4 ins. since yesterday!

Posts

  • BLTBLT Posts: 525
    I see lots of people have read your post and no one replied..  I guess we have all been very busy in the last 36hrs trying to repair the damage caused..

    I loved a bit of rain, god knows we needed it.. Tap water is not like Rainwater.. My Tomato plants took a beating more fromthe gale force winds, so much so I have had had to brace the bigger plants with 8ft steel plant stakes and done lots of de leafing and tying in..
    I almost lost 2 fence panels so I had to attend to that problem first.
    My Sweetcord have been ruined by the heat.I experimented this before so this year I grew a block of Blue Corn, it pollinated ok and cobs formed but drought means they are smalll and only good for seed for next year. I have had the same problem with many different varieties of runner and french beans, even several varieties of bean for hot climates..  But the result has been the same..
    Onion crops of 4 different types, some spring sown, some autumn sown and even tried from seed.. but the yield it only 25% of normal.. Potatoes too.

    Honestly I think we might have to alter how we grow fruit n veg in the future if these temperatures are going to be the norm.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I'm lucky to live somewhere that's always windy. If it hasn't already blown down, blown away or just been plain flattened then it will survive anything now. We double peg the washing even on calm days as we often get random gusts of wind out of nowhere.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Finally the wind has dropped , I didn't mind the rain but the wind did local damage.(trees down etc.) I had to save my wigwams too still to see if French beans were damaged. Even the raspberries had to be looked after as torn from support.  The sweetcorn mostly survived only one down, but went to an agricultural show Saturday and a farmers field we crossed had half his crop down. In our street a car had a near miss when a young silver birch about six inches in radius split half way down just missing the cars boot.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933

    This morning I am off to the local GC to buy some more tree stakes and ties!

    I picked one of the two cobs off the sweetcorn plant that was blown over and had it as part of my dinner last night. The cobs need about another 10 days to fully mature but the one I ate was tender, sweet and juicy so much enjoyed. Blanched and eaten with a knob of butter, straight off the core. MMmmmmm!

    It is still overcast and raining intermittently so very good for the plants. I am sure there must be many busy gardeners repairing damaged plants etc. after the monsoon conditions. I live fairly high up so always stake any trees or shrubs I plant but the soil was so dry, it is also very gritty and quick draining so I am always fighting to keep plants upright until they are securely rooted, which with trees takes several years before I stop worrying about them. The apple tree which has been blown over was planted 4 years ago so early days for it, I am so pleased I thinned the fruit down drastically to one apple per cluster from the three and four it was carrying.

  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    I lost some gladioli and a sunflower to the winds, so not too bad really.  
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Just had to rescue my standard rose as I didn't realise it was leaning away from me. It is in a raised bed so was well staked, I thought, but the wind managed to pull out two of the three stakes( in a triangle shape) and tip it by a few degree. It's never put down good roots to hold it in three years.
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