Thriving After Wind and Hail

While I talked about our crazy storm alerts yesterday, I didn't give you any information about the effect it had on my garden.  That's a rather important thing to do, so I'm giving it to you today.

As I thought about the high wind and the hail, one scary thought went through my mind:

"My daughter's strawberries weren't covered!!!!"

I was horrified.  She was so proud of her strawberry garden, even going as far as to brag about it to anyone who happened to pass by our home.  She loved those plants.

I rushed outside once this realization came to me, not even taking the time to change out of my pajamas and into some more socially acceptable clothing.  I didn't even bother with shoes, so it was a good thing that I at least had some socks on my feet!

I got to the strawberry garden, and this is what greeted me:

They were still perfectly safe!  There were a couple of leaves that were torn up, and her first blossom had lost its petals, but it was about time for that to happen anyway.  I released a long sigh of relief, and went back inside to put some proper clothing on.

Once I got back outside, I went through the entire yard, checking each and every plant.  The result of this inspection surprised me.  While some things were a wee bit damaged, Everything was perfectly healthy.

Thriving, even.

Sure, my hostas had some nice-sized holes poking through the, one of my onion stems had broken in half, and about half of my radishes were missing large portions of their leaves, but the storm seemed to have revved up the growth process at the same time.

The plants that had lost portions of their leaves were standing tall.  The ones that were unscathed had somehow become more vibrant.  In the case of my carrots, the difference was so extreme that for a moment I thought some strange new plant had grown in the area that I hadn't noticed previously.  It actually took me a while to realize that these things that had grown to double their original size, seemingly overnight, were indeed my carrots!

Then I looked at my potato grow bag.  I was beginning to think that the shoots were never going to poke through the soil, and that my endeavor was a failure, but when I got there...

Success!  One of the potato pieces had begun to sprout its stems.

I was completely amazed!  I never imagined that a combination of high wind, hail, and a few inches of rain could produce such sudden growth.  I mean, the rain, sure.

But the wind and hail???

Indeed, as I write this I'm sitting beside the soybeans I had planted, and the seeds have started sprouting.  All of them.  The transplanted soybean is doing quite nicely, as well.

While the idea of going through another tornado warning doesn't particularly appeal to me, I have to admit to being pleased with the results of this one!