My entire garden- gone

[SPierce]

Yup! You read that right... just when everything was going in the right direction, HAILSTORM! I took a look at all my plants.. everything's been absolutely shredded and is in all sorts of pieces all over the place.

It's a long shot- but is it possible any of them could recover enough to make it? I'll try to post pics as soon as I'm done mourning

[gumbo2176]

Happened to me in 2000. We had hail the size of golf balls and slightly bigger. I had so many tomatoes just turning orange on my vines and wound up with tomato sauce. Everything was beat down to the ground. My fruit trees were stripped of all foliage and fruit, both vehicles were severely dented and I had 31 holes in my roof that I patched until I could get the whole roof replaced after arguing with the insurance company.

I feel your pain. It hurts to see all that work go down the drain. But that is the way this thing we love to do sometimes goes. Mother Nature can be a cruel woman.

[SPierce]

Happened to me in 2000. We had hail the size of golf balls and slightly bigger. I had so many tomatoes just turning orange on my vines and wound up with tomato sauce. Everything was beat down to the ground. My fruit trees were stripped of all foliage and fruit, both vehicles were severely dented and I had 31 holes in my roof that I patched until I could get the whole roof replaced after arguing with the insurance company.

I feel your pain. It hurts to see all that work go down the drain. But that is the way this thing we love to do sometimes goes. Mother Nature can be a cruel woman.

I'm so glad to hear I'm not alone. I'm just so distraught- everything was looking so beautiful, and, BAM! I'm hoping once I can take a better look, perhaps a few of them can be left to mend themselves. We got the golf ball sized hail this afternoon- but I was still able to pick one last zucchini!

[applestar]

Aww... So sorry to hear what happened. I saw your other post in which you mentioned the hail and that you'll be checking your garden when you got home....

[SPierce]

Aww... So sorry to hear what happened. I saw your other post in which you mentioned the hail and that you'll be checking your garden when you got home....

Yeah I went out and took a few more looks, minus the garden is destroyed panic! I threw two gourd plants away already, so I've got one left. My zucchini got shredded- so I picked one last zucchini, and I have a feeling that plant will need to go, too. My lima beans still look mostly whole, so I'm hoping they pull through ok. My monster tomato plant was stuffed into a corner so it got mostly protected too.

My pumpkin that was doing so well, is now all shredded to pieces... I checked, and it seems that the main vine is still in place, but the leaves are all droppy and still barely there- I'm assuming I'll have to pull those, as well?

My pepper, which hasn't made any peppers yet, still is standing and has a few whole leaves, so I'm going to leave it and see what it is.

Now, I guess I wait- the plants that start to die, I pull, and the ones that are still green, I leave!

[applestar]

If this can be called a silver lining, this may give you enough time to plant a fall garden with sufficient time to mature before first frost.

[gixxerific]

So sorry to hear. I wish you luck. I don't know what it looks like but maybe stop pulling plants you never know they might come back, plants will amaze you with their tenacity and than again a healthy plant can drop like a rock at the same time.


Sending my prayers.

[SPierce]

If this can be called a silver lining, this may give you enough time to plant a fall garden with sufficient time to mature before first frost.

I was just thinking that, but I have no idea what to plant, really. ;x I wanted to plant some potatoes for the fall (or, well, LOTS of potatoes) but I couldn't get to the seed potatoes in time, and every place is out.

Aside from brocolli, Brussels sprouts and carrots/spinach, what are my other options? I have roughly 3-4 months of growing season left.

So sorry to hear. I wish you luck. I don't know what it looks like but maybe stop pulling plants you never know they might come back, plants will amaze you with their tenacity and than again a healthy plant can drop like a rock at the same time.


Sending my prayers.

Thank you! Any positive thoughts towards my plants will help, at the moment. I wish everything would bounce back-- I guess I'll see! The plants I pulled were pumeled into non existence, or no more existence than a shredded leaf lying on the ground, and a stem without any leaves in the ground!

[jal_ut]

I have had that happen about this time of year. Most of it recouped and made something after all. I would not get in a hurry to jerk it up.

[stella1751]

I'm so sorry to hear about your hail, SPierce! What a miserable time of the year to have this happen! I had a bad one earlier this year; at first, I really thought I had lost half the garden. However, everything did come back except for the biggest pumpkin plant, one watermelon, and one Habanero. I figure I lost about two to three weeks of growth on the tomatoes and peppers, and, amazingly, the corn just raised its shredded leaves to the sun and kept on growing.

It's late in the year, but, like the others said, I would hold off pulling anything until you are certain it is gone. I'd worry most about the pumpkin. Mine had huge hail dings on its vines and never produced anything but leaves and flowers. I finally cut it out of the hill.

[rainbowgardener]

"I have three to four months of growing season left"

You are in Massachussets, right. 3-4 months seems optimistic.

Here's some Mass. frost dates:

https://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/ma.html

Depends on where in Mass you are, but at best it looks like you have almost 3 months.

What to plant: You can still plant beans now. You could still plant zucchini now and it might be less bothered by pests than earlier planted.

A little later you can plant cool weather crops-- broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, beets, carrots, spinach.

[stella1751]

Don't forget peas! Over here, where we have seven to ten weeks left, peas would have been planted two to three weeks ago.

[john gault]

Yup! You read that right... just when everything was going in the right direction, HAILSTORM! I took a look at all my plants.. everything's been absolutely shredded and is in all sorts of pieces all over the place.

It's a long shot- but is it possible any of them could recover enough to make it? I'll try to post pics as soon as I'm done mourning

Sorry about that, nature sucks that way.

[garden5]

I'm sorry to hear that your garden has taken a beating. I would leave all the plants that you can until they are clearly dead....it can be surprising what plants can come back from.

On a brighter note, you will be able to get a good head start on a fall garden. Many of the recommendations given by the members here for crops are great. You can also plant some leafy-greens for a fall harvest.

[SPierce]

Thanks everyone! General consensus seems to be plant fall crops, and leave the plants to see how they do- so I'm going to do both! I've got some brussells sprouts and some spinach/carrots I'm going to plant in my empty containers, and see how they do from there.

I went out to look at the pumpkin this morning, and at least it, my lima beans and my pepper seems to have perked up a little bit. Is there any extra care I should be giving them?

[SPierce]

"I have three to four months of growing season left"

You are in Massachussets, right. 3-4 months seems optimistic.

Here's some Mass. frost dates:

https://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/ma.html

Depends on where in Mass you are, but at best it looks like you have almost 3 months.

What to plant: You can still plant beans now. You could still plant zucchini now and it might be less bothered by pests than earlier planted.

A little later you can plant cool weather crops-- broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, beets, carrots, spinach.

is it really possible to plant zucchini this late? I thought I was past the deadline for them!

[!potatoes!]

it's all timing...

we had our biggest hailstorm this spring right when blueberries & apples were flowering...so maybe fruit next year.

[rainbowgardener]

Zucchini take about two months from seed to harvest. We just said you have almost three...

This is a better time for them... ground thoroughly warmed up, but a lot of the pests done for the season.

[SPierce]

Zucchini take about two months from seed to harvest. We just said you have almost three...

This is a better time for them... ground thoroughly warmed up, but a lot of the pests done for the season.

that's wonderful! I am going to pull my shredded and distraught zucchini, and plant another zucchini in it's place. Thanks LD


and another storm's coming in, so to be on the safe side
[img]https://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c25/Liskarialeman/Photo122.jpg[/img]

they're downstairs to finish ripening on the kitchen window sill Found them buried in the straw, must have fallen off of the plant yesterday during the hail.