You can read Part I of this post here.
After eating dinner at my in-laws, I was planing on going to the garden and giving it some extra TLC. As we started eating, the wind was picking up and the clouds were getting darker and darker. It started raining, really hard- harder than it had rained in a long time.
As I was helping my mother in law clear dishes after we were finished eating, I noticed from her window, which faces north, a massive, and I mean massive cloud. It covered the entire horizon, and it was shaping up to be a perfect funnel cloud.
About that time, Joe brought the boys in from outside on the covered patio. He was looking at the massive clouds forming as well. The wind was picking up, and it was still raining very hard.
We turned the news on, and they said there was a tornado warning, for the next county over. We relaxed a bit, and left the TV on while we were talking. The boys were playing an a few minutes later, I heard some wailing like a siren. I thought it was the boys, who imitate police and fire engine sirens all the time.
A moment later it struck me- our city projects siren warnings in the case of a tornado watch! I asked everyone if that was the sirens going. We turned off the TV, and the boys were quiet. We heard the sirens issuing the warning that we were under a tornado warning!
We turned the news back on, and they had issued a tornado warning now for our county. The wind was really strong, and the rain had not let up. The sirens continued for about fifteen minutes. When our county’s tornado watch was cancelled we decided to go home. I told Joe I was going to stop off over at Amy’s before I came home.
It was still raning really hard when I arrived at Amy’s. I pretty much figured the wind and heavy rain probably did some more damage to the garden. Unfortunately I was right. The tomato cages had completely come out of the ground, and all the tomato plants were toppled over.
One of the really large sunflowers, had toppled over across the tomato plants, breaking off numerous limbs and fruit on the tomatoes. Between the wind, the tomatoes toppling, and the sunflower hitting them, there was a lot of damage.
I wanted to get the tomatoes back in their cages, so some of the limbs were supported. I braved the mud and the rain, and since the ground was so wet, the cages went back in, but it was a bit tricky trying to get the plants back in the cages, without breaking more branches. I did the best I could, and went home.
I was so mad all this was happening. What were the chances that while I was garden sitting, there would be an infestation of bugs, and then when everything was getting better, a storm producing a tornado watch, would whip through? In all my years of tending to a garden, nothing like this had ever happened to me before- why did it have to happen when I was in charge of someone else’s garden?
At least there wasn’t any hail, I thought, and then immediately knocked on wood.
I wanted to get over to the garden one last time before Amy came home on Saturday to clean up a bit. Friday it was raining, so I didn’t think I would be able to go, but it stopped raining. I tried to anchor the tomato cages in more, and cleaned up more debris. I also applied another layer of the diatomaceous earth to the garden.
As I was cleaning up, I discovered two giant zucchini’s. I hadn’t seen them the entire time. It gave me a good feeling that despite the stress the garden had been under, it was still managing to produce, and continue on.
I picked the zucchini’s and left them for Amy. I hoped she would be happy to see them, and hoped she wouldn’t be too sad about the way her garden looked. Later that night it started raining again, in effect, washing away all of the diatomaceous earth.
Amy told me when she arrived back home that the garden wasn’t as bad as she had thought. She was either being very nice, or I perceived it to be worse than she was. She told me she had found some squash too, so I was very happy to hear that.
Depite everything that happened to the garden, during those two weeks, I did enjoy myself and enjoyed taking care of the garden. I loved finding the produce- it was like a little reassurance that despite all the problems, it would continue on- kind of like a metaphor for life itself.
That is why I like gardening, and growing things. It reminds me that there is a pattern and order to life, and even though at times, it seems like the problems can be overwhelming, order will always emerge again, and things will be OK. Every now and then I need to be reminded of this.
I don’t know if I will be asked to garden sit again, but what are the chances of something like this happening two years in a row? Knock on wood.
