Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sandy

Since people were wondering about me on other blogs I figured I'd better post. We probably got tropical storm force winds but not hurricane force winds here. But don't look at my weather station for info. Its wind gauge has always been broken. Our house never lost power, but my husband is working at home for the second day due to power loss at work.

The storm ripped most of the leaves off the trees. Before the storm we didn't have a covering of leaves on the lawn. I was worried about my peach trees as in the microburst over the summer it had going nearly to the ground. I have it staked now to try to repair it. But the trees didn't even bend this time. They just lost their leaves. You can see one peach tree in the bed to the left.

The worst damage to plants is in my zinnia bed. I have cages holding them up but one has tipped over. The zinnias look ragged now and I'll take them down soon. But the trash can you see there was there during the storm. It never fell over. The wind was always pushing it against the rock wall.

Many of my fall crops are under row covers. This one that has 9 gauge metal wire as supports is now tipped. Not because it came out of the soil, but because the metal bent. 9 gauge wire isn't all that strong. The others with the pvc pipe were just fine. One end came open on one, but nothing else happened.

The kale survived well. Some of the leaves are twisted, but none snapped. I staked them all before the storm. I wasn't really thinking of the storm when I staked them. I stake them so the weight of the snow doesn't take them down in winter.

So there you have it. I survived quite well. Our microburst over the summer hit our section of town much harder. I took a walk yesterday when the sun was out and I saw one street with yellow tape over it. After the mircoburst about half the streets had it. The bike path had two trees down from the soccer fields until Lake street. After the microburst I couldn't count the number since it was so thick with downed trees you couldn't walk through. Our town still has about 4% of the people without power and had about 24% at the height of the storm. That is pretty consistent over eastern Massachusetts. As you can see from those numbers, we didn't get hit very hard. Things are getting back to normal fairly quickly. Our state lost a few things along the coastline, but compared to farther south we are doing just fine.

8 comments:

  1. Daphne, I'm glad you and your garden escaped SANDY. Your kale looks wonderful ....this is my first year trying to grow kale (I made the Kale Quiche from Jody's Spring Garden Acre last night and it was delish!!). I wanted to ask you if I should put a row cover on the kale? I didn't plant it until late August. At the same time I planted carrots (really doing well), beets (just so-so) and dill (beautiful)Also, where did you find the little green clips you use to secure the row cover to the PVC?

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    1. I'm not sure if you need a row cover or not. I'm not using one. I want to see if any of these are winter hardy (I know the dwarf kale is since I've had it survive the winter before). So I don't want to give protection. Not all kale is hardy in my zone (6b). I'd rather grow the kinds that are hardy so I won't have to worry about covers. I also use row covers for insects. I had a row cover on these when they were little and the white butterflies were out in force. When the butterflies got fewer I opened them up.

      The clips were from Australia (though a company that sells the to US folks). They aren't cheap and shipping is expensive.
      http://www.veggiecare.com/products.html
      Their clips are not really made for us. The 1/2"ID white pvc pipe that I use has an external diameter of about 7/8". This is too small for the jumbos and too big for the 3/4" clips. The ones I use are the 3/4" clips. I can't lock them closed (since the pipe is too big) and they don't have springs. So I'm guessing the plastic will wear over time and they will no longer hold. So far I've used them for one season and they have held up to that. Not sure about the long haul. I used to use the big black metal clips you find in the office supply stores, but the edges are too abrasive on the row covers. So I decided to replace them. I wish a good clip was made for US markets. I have some white 4" long clips that are made for my diameter (bought from Pinetree), but they are meant to stay in place and are very hard to get on and off, so not good for places you want to get into (I use them at the top of the arch and only remove them when the whole row cover is removed, once a season).

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  2. So glad all looks well, given the possibilities.

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  3. So glad you (and your garden) are safe. Hopefully everything will be back to normal for your community soon.

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  4. So happy to see that You (and Your garden) are OK - and even the row covers - impressive (they must be of good quality)! Been watching the pictures on CNN from our safety in Europe and been thinking on You bloggers 'over there' amongst some friends and relatives, so it´s really nice to see that at least wasn´t too bad in Your community! Hope the rest of the week will be much better and everything will be on the right track! :) Mia

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  5. Glad to hear that all is ok. We seem to have gotten lucky in NJ. It's going to be a huge rebuilding effort everywhere.

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  6. You did very well! My garden looks that windswept and we did not have a super storm to blame it on.

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