A few notes: The hail hit for about 3 minutes a couple of nights ago. And despite the hail being dime-sized for the most part, it still managed to do quite a bit of damage to the softer stuff. The decorative gourd patch was hit the hardest. (Drat! I LOVE decorative gourds.) Despite the damage, I'm still expecting a pretty good amount of food to come out of there. I'm hoping Mike and the other fellas out here will pull out of it okay, too.
I staggered my green bean plantings and forgot that I'd done that, so I was surprised to find another couple of pounds of green beans hiding in there. Dilly beans. I've got 5 pints sitting on my counter as I type.
Many of my tomatoes are cracking on the tops. "The reason?" you ask. July was hot and dry. During that month, these guys were just starting to fill in. When August hit with cooler weather and lots of rain (we had 3.2 inches one night), the tomatoes went into hyper-growth mode, sucking up the water and expanding too quickly. If there are any pregnant women in the house tonight, I apologize for the graphic nature of this explanation. Excessive growth and water retention aren't laughing matters.
I've been up too late trying to can and get ready for classes. I'll just say I'm not sad about the hail. I suppose it's part of this garden's particular story. If they turned out the same every time and if there wasn't some risk or adventure involved, it just wouldn't be the same kind of work.
The tomato you gave me finally ripened, thanks to several days in a western-facing window.
ReplyDeleteIt. Was. Delicious.
And one of the peppers went into the corn "salsa" I made yesterday, which also turned out great! :)