Temperamental weather = depressed crops
Photo courtesy Paul Glazzard/Wikimedia Commons.
Welcome back, everyone. Hope you had a great July 4th weekend.
Today’s New River Valley Current features an article about how the weather so far this year has caused a lot of problems for farmers. My favorite line in the story by freelancer Jane W. Graham is “Some years are known for drought or floods or hail or wind. So far, 2011 is known for all of that.”
If you were anywhere near those storms that rolled through this area yesterday, you know we saw three out of the four in just a few hours’ time. I believe some of the worst of that storm came through Northwest Roanoke, where I live. Some 75 mph wind gusts were measured at the airport, which makes sense considering that I watched the 4-story pine tree in my backyard trying to bend over and touch its toes. We also got a lot of hail and waves of hard rain.
The whole time, I was watching my tomato plants and my squash plants in the garden, hoping they weren’t being too badly battered by that hail and wind. The water would be good for them (we all love it when we can skip a watering day), but after all the hard work I’ve done out in the hot sun, I would’ve been highly annoyed to find broken plants.
And my tiny garden is nothing compared to the fields and fields of crops tended by farmers in Southwest Virginia. The farmer featured in Graham’s article, Chuck Shorter of Montgomery County, said he had to cut hay about three weeks behind schedule and lost blueberries, peas, kale and cabbage to heavy rains. It is a little cruel when a farmer has to pray for rain, then sees it come in such fast, heavy downpours that it only runs off and causes damage or flooding. Be careful what you wish for, I reckon.
I’ve always heard that if a gardener gets a ripe tomato in Southwest Virginia before July 4th, that’s really something to brag about. Mine are still as green as the weeds I need to pull out of my garden. Despite the fickle weather, has anybody out there pulled a red tomato off your vines? If so, go ahead and brag, but also tell us if you’ve got any secrets for the rest of us.
July 5, 2011 - 9:58 AM
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Lindsey,
We have gotten some Roma’s ( a smaller variety) and some great golden cherry tomatoes, but the “real” tomatoes are still green with a few tauntingly yellow-green tinged…the plants are half again the height of the tall cages.
My zucchini plant is HUGE…with one little lone squash appearing so far.
My lemon cuc’s have finally flowered but not gone beyond that.
Basil? I do have some happy basil!!
Win
I’ve gotten a couple squash and some lettuce out of the garden so far, but my tomatoes are all still quite green and small. I’ll be getting some more lettuce tomorrow and possibly some more squash by week’s end. But I suspect it’ll be at least 2-3 weeks before I get any tomatoes that are ready.
Ohh, jealous of the Romas! Great sauce-making tomatoes. My Mr. Stripeys are pretty big and I have high hopes for them. My one yellow tomato plant is huge and I had to stake it up again last week.
I’ve been getting good yellow squash, at least.
I stupidly forgot to plant basil this year, and I know I’m going to regret that when the tomatoes do start to come in. I swear I could eat a Caprese salad every day and not get sick of them. I suppose I could still put one in, maybe in a little pot that I could bring indoors when it starts to get a bit cooler.
One thing I have done this year with watering is that I don’t water any of the turf at all, I’m letting it be brown. I am watering some shrubs and flowers that aren’t well established every few days if we haven’t gotten any rain, and I’m checking the garden daily and watering every other day or so, depending on how hot and dry it’s been. I do water the upside-down tomato plant daily though (unless it rains), it dries out quickly.
BTW, I used my 50% off coupon at Northwest Hardware yesterday to get a nice, big canning pot with a jar rack. Not a pressure canner, but plenty big for hot water bath canning and only paid $13
Lindsey- we’ve gotten three tomatoes off of our plants. Not tremendously big but boy are they good on a old ‘mater sandwich. Our squash and zucchini plants are HUGE and we’ve already made three loves of bread and plenty of roasted veggies. Green beans are also coming in. Now if those stubborn cucumbers would just start growing! I keep an eye on the plants when the wind starts blowing hard in Salem. Leave the plants alone mother nature!
where’d you get the 50% off coupon, Lindsey??????????
They have them stuck on the front of The Roanoke Times around July 4th every year- it’s like a bright yellow Post-It note. The sale is always on July 4. We always go down there and find something we need. I got my nice Lodge Dutch oven there, and my best bird feeder, and several other things over the years.
We had two tomatoes ripen last week and have several that are ALMOST there! The zuccs and squash are the best I’ve ever had and more than we could possibly eat (to the delight of our family and friends). Peppers are very small (expect the ones growing in the shade of the zucc leafs). Broccoli is doing very well too. I have had to do a lot of “working” the garden this year! Pulling weeds, working the dirt, watering on a daily basis.
Oooh, lucky Donna!
I have become a complete devotee to soaker hoses. I don’t think I will ever have a garden again without winding a soaker hose in and around all of my plants. I set the oven timer and turn it on in the evenings when the ground is dry. It sure beats standing out there with a hose while the mosquitoes bite me.
My peppers have not done well this year so far. The only one that has done well is the one I put in a pot and set in partial shade. Am I wrong or do they not like a lot of full, hot sun? That seems counterintuitive considering that they grow in really hot, dry climates.
I weeded the garden last night and have a lot of green tomatoes hanging around. Come on, babies!
I am happy to see that all are doing well with the gardens, but I am reporting less than stellar results. My squash and broccoli are doing wonderful, but my peppers are still at only about 4 inches high. Onions area also just so so – but the garlic appears to be promising.
None of our greens I(collards/lettuce/mustard) have survived. Mostly have not made it by either the animals or my lovely yard guy mistaking them for a weed. And my tomatoes took their last breath when I was called out of town unexpectedly and did not get watered.
We’ve gotten 3 ripe tomatoes from our 4 plants, which are all Romas. I planted basil in the same pots as the tomatoes, but haven’t used much of it yet. Last year, we had plenty of ripe tomatoes before July 4, but only a couple after that due to the dry weather and those blasted stink bugs.
I planted blue lake green beans this year and have already picked 1.5 lbs of beans. I cooked them with some bacon & red bliss potatoes. MMMMM!