Katrina broke my tomatoes..

[Grey]

I moved out of Florida to get AWAY from these storms...

And - I've lived through many a hurricane in FL and I know my little garden troubles are trivial compared to what the folks south of me have...

What's left of Katrina has wreaked havoc on my tomato plants - some fell over, some stems broke off - I'm going to be staking for hours later today, but really no point until these 30MPH gusts stop blowing through here. Even my dogs don't want to go outside.

So, I guess my tomato season may be nearing an end - unless somebody knows a way to salvage me poor plants? I'm just going to do the best I can with staking and cut off the places where they got torn. Anything else I can do?


Gee, now cages would have been a great idea. I prefer the staking method because I think cages are unsightly and I never seemed to have built a big enough cage for my tomatoes, and it's harder to prune them inside the cage.

[Grey]

Well, my hands smell blissfuly like tomato now (anybody else love that smell?) and my neighbors on both sides of me think I am nuts - "WHAT are you DOING out here?!?" One neighbor actually refused to drive to work today - this isn't THAT bad.

But me, some rebar, a hammer, old pantyhose and garden ties staked those poor tomatoes back up. I think I may only lose a few stems after all. Miraculously, the Better Boys - which had nearly completely fallen over and are carrying some good-sized babies right now - will be all right, I think.

So where exactly do I have to move to get away from these storms? Obviously the far NW corner of GA isn't far enough...

[grandpasrose]

Grey, I was thinking of you this morning when I was watching the wreckage on the news and wondering where you would be in all of that! I am glad that you yourself are alright, and it sounds like maybe most of your tomatoes might be too!

As to where you need to move to get away from all those tremendous weather patterns - we thank our lucky stars many times that we live where we are - no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no floods, no earthquakes, no droughts - what more can I say?

Glad to hear you're okay - take care!
VAL

[Grey]

Hey Val - yep, we made through what's left of the storm all right.
It looks like southern Illinois even got some rain - and they need it desperately.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Sure Val, that's a little slice of heaven up where you are. By the way, has it snowed yet?

Grey, just glad to hear you are good; it's a shame about the maters, but Nature's a mutha. What ya gonna do?

If it appears that you have some vines that aren't going to survive the beating, my buddies grandpa in Maine used to cut vines and hang them upside down in his head house; enough juice in the vines to ripen what is left there (he usually did it because of frost, but the principle remains sound...)

Much salt come with that breeze? Might want to keep an eye on that, although there was a pretty good rinse cycle running too, I suspect

Scott

[Grey]

Good tip about hanging those upside-down! I do have a couple that are going to have to be trimmed and *sniff* there were many growing tomatoes on those stems. Truth be known I was wanting to see if the bruised and broken stems could still supply nutrients if the fruits were supported - but was worried about creating a breeding ground for infection.

I thought I could smell salt in the winds as it first came up but don't think most people would have noticed it. I grew up on the coast - it wasn't strong and there was a plenty good "rinse cycle" so hopefully no worries there.

[grandpasrose]

I just got back from watching news reports of the ravage of Katrina - how near are you to any of that Grey? - Oh and Scott, by the way, compared to that, this is heaven! It was 72 degrees today, with sun and showers. We don't usually see any snow until the end of October.

I remember once you mentioned it Scott, that my grandfather used to hang his tomatoe plants upside down in the basement if there had been a touch of frost! I had totally forgotten about that. Memories........
VAL
PS - glad you're okay Grey!!

[Grey]

I'm a good 6 hour's drive from the mess Katrina made - probably about 7 hours to New Orleans. So I had a good bit of distance between me and where the storm made landfall. By the time it got here it was only a tropical storm (still AMAZING, this far inland). And the eye didn't even pass right over us or anything - it was still a state away!

[img]https://server2.uploadit.org/files/greyghost-usmap.jpg[/img]

I added an arrow to my location - just 45 min. south of Chattanooga.

I've never seen such a mess. I lived in Boca Raton when Andrew hit Miami (Boca is about an hour north of Miami), and last year I lived in central Florida and had Charlie, Francis and Jeanne pass right over my house. Don't ask me how my house made it through those storms - we had those giant water oak trees around it. The big problem with water oaks is they don't have much of a root system. I have pictures somewhere of the one that came down behind my house. Anyways, we were among the crazy people that stayed in our house through all those storms because we have 2 dogs and the shelters wouldn't let them in. They're housebroke, well-mannered dogs - probably could have provided some entertainment doing some tricks. Jeanne was the worst for us - after that I decided I'd had enough of hurricanes. As soon as we'd take the boards off the windows we'd have to put them back up, it became a weekly activity.

[grandpasrose]

I remember watching on TV when you all went through those hurricanes and storms! I would think, why are they taking all the barricades down, the news is saying there's another one coming?!?!
I can't imagine having to pick up my life again over and over and over again. I don't know how people do it, or how they can afford it!

It's sure is hard to watch what's happening right now - I can only watch a little, and then I have to turn it off. I feel so badly for all of them, and yet so helpless.

Anyway - again, Grey, glad you're well away from it all and okay!
VAL

[Grey]

Hey Val - we took the boards down because we just HAD to have daylight, and HAD to be able to open our windows. It was still 95 degrees outside and to not have electricity was really hard. And we were hoping so hard that the incoming hurricane would turn in some other direction and spare us!

I can't look at much of the damage in NO either - too many memories and I just feel so bad for those people!

I expect a lot of people that evacuated will just have to settle somewhere else. The mayor of NO was saying it could be 4-6 weeks before they got electricity, and as far as insurance goes for rebuilding those houses - I have old neighbors in Florida whose houses still have trees through them from last year. Their homes were fully insured - but the company never paid up. One family bought another house in FL, the other got a forbearance on their home loan and moved to Colorado a few months ago.

Really sad.

[grandpasrose]

I never thought of the no electricity part, or the heat. I apologize for being so ignorant of what it is like to be through this.
I just can't imagine having to restart my life over and over and over again - how do they have any spirit left?

I am glad that you have moved to a better place, and hopefully some of these people will as well. It's so sad that these catastrophic things have to happen to make people realize how precious our time here is.

Take care Grey, and try not to fall back into the memories too much - you have to take care of those tomatoes after all!
VAL

[The Helpful Gardener]

Our thoughts are with those down south, especially in Mobile and N.O.

Best of luck to them all...

Scott

[The Helpful Gardener]

Oh and on a lighter note, Katrina knoked down MY tomatoes too...

SHe wasn't much more than drizzle and puffs at this point, but the last damage she did was MY tomatoes. Like I didn't hate her already...


They're back up...

Scott

[Grey]

Oh and on a lighter note, Katrina knoked down MY tomatoes too...

SHe wasn't much more than drizzle and puffs at this point, but the last damage she did was MY tomatoes. Like I didn't hate her already...


They're back up...

Scott

lol. I'm probably luckier because mine are up close to the house - makes for a good windbreak. If they had been in the middle of the yard I doubt I'd have any tomatoes anymore!
She was a bad storm. Going to take a long time to fix all that damage in the south.

[The Helpful Gardener]

I'm just worried that if all these global warming guys are correct (and it looks more like it all the time), then storms of this magnitude will become regular events...

Been a while since we had a bad blow here; knock on wood...

Scott

[Grey]

I'm told that we will be seeing more hurricanes for the next 9 years. Some kind of weather phenomenon. I do hope the effects of global warming are not so bad as all that - but - In all my years of living in FL, these past few have gradually been hotter and hotter. And the winters have had an extra cold snap or two than they used to (not complaining).

Here in GA, everyone tells me that Spring is not normally so nice and beautifully cool for so long, and nor is the summer here normally so hot, or so wet. I'm told our grass (in my case, weeds) should have been dead two months ago from the heat and dryness.

[grandpasrose]

Waaaaay up here, the weather has changed so much that the new Hardiness Zone map has moved our area up a Zone!

When I was growing up here (Such a looonnnng time ago! ) 3 to 4 weeks of 40 degrees below zero was the norm in winter. Now we have been praying for 3 weeks of 40 below to kill the pine beetle infestation that has ravaged BC. We're lucky if we get 2 days now.

It used to be the norm as well that everyone here planted their vegetable garden and put their potted flowers out on the long weekend in May. Now it's at Easter!

Everyone's well and water systems are going dry or limping along (mine included) because we no longer get near the snow we used to. Two to three feet now compared to six or eight. The water table just keeps going lower and lower.

Things they are a changin', and I think Scott is more right than I want him to be!

But I'd still rather be here right now than down south......
VAL