Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Hail House to the Rescue!

Well folks, the weather here has been downright weird this year.


First we had the abnormally cool and wet spring and early summer, then we had crazy hot and dry weather for most of September. Seriously, it's been in the high 80's or low 90's most days without a single drop of rain for 6 weeks...

...until last night.

But here's the crazy part, it didn't just rain, we got nickle-quarter sized hail. Seriously, it's nearly October and we got hail! WTF???



Good news is that the hail house performed brilliantly!


It all just rolled off the top and sides and collected along the edges leaving my little plants safe inside. Yay!


For the sake of comparison, here's what happened to the part of the zucchini plant that was growing outside of the "protected zone."


I'm just hoping that the "impact resistant" shingles did their job too...


They made it through the last 2 storms unscathed, while everybody in the neighborhood who didn't pay the extra few hundred bucks for the upgrade is replacing their roofs... The people across the alley just finished getting their roof replaced last week! I sure hope they went for the upgrade this time around!

So my next step is to work on covering up any sharp pieces of metal sticking out on the hail house so I can put the plastic cover on it when it gets cold without worrying about it getting torn. That is if it ever gets cold! Seriously, our nighttime temps have been in the 50's and 60's! I'm not exactly complaining about that since it's meant that the garden has been producing overtime, but it is odd.

Anyhow... I've been making refrigerator pickles to deal with the surplus cucumbers...


And I'm freezing the extra cherry tomatoes so I can toss them into stews or roasted veggie mixes if it ever gets cool enough for that sort of thing. I've also got 3-4 limb sized zucchinis that got away from me in the fridge waiting for it to get cool enough to bake zucchini bread. (I'm giggling about the misplaced modifier in that sentence... picturing the zucchini running around in the back of the fridge or something.)

I think the hail house was definitely worth the investment, and hopefully it will mean many years of gardening bliss in the future!

So tell me... how are your gardens doing? Is the weather as crazy where you live as it is here?


24 comments :

  1. You are ambitious! I marvel at how different areas have their own weather oddities and I don't envy you that hail. You probably don't envy our lake effect snow.

    It never hurts to be cautious with a roof -- they are so expensive to repair and replace!

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    1. Oof! Lake effect snow... I can't even imagine living with that! Seriously, I look at pictures that people post and I can't even believe that it's for real!

      I'l really keeping my fingers crossed on the roof. I've replaced it twice and really, REALLY don't wanna go through that again any time soon!

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  2. We're waiting to see how much we will be affected by Hurricane Joaquin. For sure, there will be a lot of rain.

    I know that I had nothing to do with it, but I'm kind of proud of your hail house. Good job. :)

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    1. Awwww thanks! I'm really pleased (and somewhat surprised) with how it turned out. Probably not my most cost effective move, but it certainly had the desired effect of making gardening fun again.

      Here's hoping Joaquin is gentle with you!

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  3. That hail house is truly a winner. I am envious of your thriving plants. My garden was in baskets this year and the only thing that flourished was the hot peppers...but they did really well and are varieties I can't buy at the store,so a good thing to do well. We had weird weather here, too...and then it suddenly turned into Fall overnight. I'm just hoping it doesn't suddenly turn into Winter overnight in Nov. as it did last year with 7' of snow. But, the thought of that is going to motivate me to get next year's in-ground garden bed prepared early...as soon as it stops raining, which it hasn't done in a long time, but now doesn't want to stop doing. You are probably aware, but JIC, remember that putting some large water containers in your plastic-covered hail house can make for nice "heaters" for the coldest nights.

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    1. OK... that's really interesting about the peppers. I put mine in pots this year instead of in the ground because one of my friends has had fantastic results with peppers in containers. My results were not as amazing as hers, but certainly MUCH better than anything I've managed when putting them in the ground. I wonder why that is?

      I know what you mean about sudden changes in weather. Last year we'd already had our first snow storm by this time!

      Containers of water in the greenhouse are a great idea... anything that provides thermal mass. I actually once had a crazy idea of constructing a greenhouse made of old pop bottles filled with water. Sorta like a giant wall-o-water or something. But then I thought about how strong the frame would have to be in order to hold that much weight and thought better of it. I could just see the headlines: "Woman pummeled to death by pop bottles when makeshift greenhouse collapses!" :-)

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  4. Yey for the hail house making gardening fun again! Everything looks like it's thriving in there.

    My allotment has produced lots of squash- it's the first time I have grown them, and I will definitely grow them next year too. There are still lots of potatoes to be dug up, but I have been really busy- must get up there next week.
    The garden at home needs lots of work too, so let's hope this really warm sunny autumn weather continues!

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    1. I didn't plant any squash this year other than zucchini. They grow really well here, but I just hate preparing them - it's like you have to be Hercules to cut through those tough shells, so most end up just becoming squirrel food.

      And I really have to figure out the potato thing too. Mine always seem to die before the potatoes can form... or else in the process of digging them up I manage to spear half of them with the pitchfork and destroy them... or the potatoes all end up peeking out of the soil and turning green. Oy! Is there a secret to it?

      Anyhow, I hope your warm autumn continues and you're able to harvest a bunch more!

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    2. Have you tried growing them in a bucket?

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    3. I tried that one year, but I think I watered them too much because the plants died and when I dumped them over to check the potatoes that did form were all rotten. The buckets had holes all around the bottom but perhaps I should try again next year only with less water!

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    4. In order to prevent the green potato thing you need to keep them covered- so usually after planting I run a hoe between the rows to loosen the soil and then make a ridge of soil over the row of potatoes. You then make a bigger ridge as the plant grows. I never bother to water mine, but I think we get more rain than you...
      http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-earth-up-potatoes/258.html

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    5. PS I still get a few green potatoes, but no many

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    6. OK... interesting. I have always put more soil on them, but nothing like the amount shown in the photo. Hmm... I guess if I try them again I'll have to keep a big pile of dirt somewhere for that purpose.

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    7. You should be able to dig it out from between the rows- the reason it looks like a deep groove between rows is partly because the soil has been dug from there...

      Or the growing in tubs/bags is a good option (if you don't over water them :p)

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  5. Your pickles look seriously delicious! Our garden is finished for the year, but we still have a few more weeks of CSA boxes left. They had to take a break because of the weird weather, but are starting back up today. I'm excited to see what we get.

    We haven't had hail, but we've had an insane amount of rain lately. I'm ready for some sun!

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    1. I tried the pickles last night and they're amazing! The actually taste like pickles! I'm not sure why that should surprise me but it totally did. The batch I made are sorta spicy - I think I'm gonna make another batch that's sweeter, more like bread & butter pickles. Sorry to go on and on about it, but I haven't been able to eat pickles for 20 years because I'm deathly allergic to celery and they put celery seed in ALL commercial pickles.

      Anyhow, I've seen the reports of crazy rain in your neck of the woods and you have my deepest sympathies. It's sorta been a feast or famine thing here with rain! Hopefully you'll get some sunshine soon!

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  6. Your hail house rocks (hey, that sounds like "jailhouse rock" ... sorry, just me and my flight of ideas!). You have had more than your share of hail this year.

    We had an unusually mild September. Temps have been more normal for our area the past two days--I may even consider turning on the heat! Looks like your tomatoes and cukes did better than ours. Beans and lettuce were our high-producers this year.

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    1. Ha! I "hailhouse rock" I love it! Of course, that makes my brain go to "schoolhouse rock"... I'm starting to involuntarily hum the preamble to the Declaration of Independence (which I can't recite without singing it!)

      Anyhoo... it seems like crazy weather is the norm around here anymore, so I'm really glad I made the investment in hail protection.

      Our weather is supposed to cool off dramatically in the next few days. I've had to run the AC at night for the past week because it's been so hot and I can't have the windows open this time of year because my allergies are so bad... and I may have to turn the heat on in a few days too! Crazy!

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  7. That was a great idea to cover the plants. I am jealous you still have zucchini to work with, ours is done.

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    1. It's such a let down when the garden is finally over, isn't it? The zucchini has certainly slowed down a bit here, and the leaves are getting a bit crispy with powdery mildew or whatever it is that happens to them at the end of a long summer, but I'm still getting a few zukes per week. I suppose Denver's hottest September on record might be part of the reason for the success!

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  8. Yay for the hoop house! That's quite a difference in the foliage between inside and out of the protection. Want to trade temperatures? Our highs during the day are barely in the 50s. I guess I shouldn't complain it's yet to frost here so tomatoes and peppers are still ripening in the sun.

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    1. Holy Moly! Your highs are lower than our lows! Perhaps I'll stop whining about the fact that it's supposed to stay down in the 60's tomorrow!

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  9. I love seeing pictures of your hail house as it's progressed! It's so green and leafy-pretty inside and also an inspiration to me! This may show up twice - I think the first comment got eaten ; )

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    1. It's pretty amazing - especially the cucumbers. I've never even gotten one to live before, let alone take over like that!

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