Autumn Hurricanes!!!

The fall came with a bang this weekend. It is very possible that our recent spate of storms and hurricanes is a part of the long term climate change affecting the planet. In any case, our little garden has suffered some structural damage from Hurricane Hannah on Saturday. Several of our bamboo trellis structures were knocked out by the high winds, this has effectively destroyed about 30% of our pole bean crop.

The bio-intensive garden bed has survived, but the tomato bushes have been badly battered with scores of green tomatoes rotting on the ground. I would say that at least 20% of the tomatoes have been lost. My poor calabash bush has been entirely destroyed by this storm, it's main trunk broken in two. The squash plants have fared better due to their larger, lower profile, though 2 large yellow squashes were lost due to Mildew rot. My onions are entirely gone, the earth underneath their shallow roots had given away due to the rains. The garlic with their larger, deeper roots seemed to have survived. The corn, turnips, and beets are all holding on.

All in all, the damage to my garden has been serious but not fatal. I would say that 15% to 20% of this garden's yield potential has been taken away by this storm. We still managed to harvest 13 lbs of beans, and 4 lbs of tomatoes last week.