Springtime In the Midwest
I took this picture a little over a week ago, in fact on the last day of March. The last few years of our farm garden we haven't had much in the way of spring crops. Because of the distance involved and the business of our lives, we are left to gardening only on a weekend and that is if the weather cooperates. The last few years it has been cold and rainy on the weekends to the point that when we do get our spring crops planted, it gets hot much too soon and they fail to produce. This time, we had a very narrow window of opening. Keep reading for details.
Above is what we got done. We mulched the strawberry bed and planted one row of watermelon radishes (first time for us), two rows of snow peas, and one row of carrots from leftover seed. On the spur of the moment, deciding we might never get such an opportunity again, we drove 15 miles to pick up some onion sets and planted a row and a half of them. We also bought some potatoes and planted those too. We have potatoes on order but they hadn't shipped yet. (Literally an hour after we got home later in the day, I received an email notification that they had been just shipped.)
Some of our fruit trees we planted last year really didn't do well. They lost all their leaves and had bug issues which I attempted to fix. They both put out a few leaves heading into late fall but I wasn't sure that would be enough to overwinter them. But they all seem to have buds on them so perhaps they might live another year.
Remember that narrow window I mentioned earlier? That was because we had been in the bullseye zone for severe weather for the better part of the week and it was supposed to start by mid afternoon. Sure enough, shortly after we returned home in early afternoon, storm cells began to fire up. One particular one fired up and had direct aim on where we live on the edge of town. As I watched the news, there was a doplar indicated rotation a few miles SW of us in the cell heading directly at us. I hurried out to the porch looking in that direction but saw no rotation. I saw ugly clouds and they were speeding past us on their way to the NE but nothing going in a circle. The front wall hit us with blowing wind and rain so I went back inside and looked out the north windows and saw the above site. Although I can't see it touching the ground, that is a tornado and it did touch down less than a mile past our house and took out a few houses and sent people to the hospital though fortunately no fatalities have been reported as I type this. That was a little too close for comfort.
About 15 minutes after the tornado disappeared from site, marble sized hail started falling. The same cell had produced baseball sized hail about 20 minutes earlier so I really pucked up when it started falling, expecting the worst. Fortunately it never increased in size and after five minutes, stopped falling.
Forty-Five minutes after the tornado, disappeared, it looked like this out back. Such is springtime in the midwest.
Springtime in New Home roils between highs in the 80's and lows in the 40's, so I get looking for the "narrow window". We just had a cold front blow in this week that dropped the temperatures, so me suddenly not planting this week looks like genius.
ReplyDeleteI would say "that is too close for comfort", but to be fair we had one touch down not too far away two years ago (I was, of course, out of town).
It was the closest I have ever been to one, and as it turned out, an EF4 which is rather large. Prior to that, I've been within five miles a couple times and that is too close too.
DeleteThat was a close call! Glad you are okay. I hope the weather stays warm for germination of your seeds! You have more Spring than I do !
ReplyDeleteIn current time, we are getting some really nice spring weather and I expect I will see some things sprouting in our garden the next time I see it.
DeleteI have never seen a tornado but have been in awe of the storm chasers. I only intend to enjoy storm chasing vicariously, however. I wonder if your weather was related to our ice storm last week. By golly though, this week's forecast is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the big storm systems that have dealt us severe weather this spring have let a lot of snow up north so you are probably correct. I have seen only one tornado with my own eyes, and that was 25 years ago when I was on a golf course and we watched a small spout drop from the clouds, stirred up some dirt and then retracted, all from maybe five miles away and perpendicular to the weather direction we were in.
DeleteI can't even conceive of baseball-sized hail. I've never seen such a thing. (Thankfully!)
ReplyDeleteIn 2017, we got caught on the road in a storm that produced copious amount of golf ball sized hail. It totaled our vehicle by insurance standards and so they hauled it off and gave us a check. I can't image what baseball sized would have done in the same situation.
DeleteI hate tornadoes and I hate hail. That was a very close call.
ReplyDeleteDitto!
Deletethat's a scary took tornado (and I love the screen affect of the shot). I have a few things in the ground in the garden: lettuce, turnips, beets, radishes, Swiss chard, onions and potatoes. Inside, I'm just getting tomatoes to come up but it's still four weeks before I can safely transplant them (we were in the 20s on Saturday and Sunday morning).
ReplyDeleteWe are going heavy on tomatoes this year and have a lot sprouting in our greenhouse. But it will still be two or three weeks at least before we transplant them too.
DeleteThat size hail is unimaginable to me; I promise to try not to complain about the little pellets we get here. They still hurt when they hit my head, but they won't kill me--or total my car. It's wild weather here too, from rain to sun back and forth, but not tornadoes, thankfully!
ReplyDeleteI have never experienced the marble sized hail we received on bare flesh and I hope not too. I was once caught up in a storm that produced maybe large pea sized hail and that was a pounding I haven't forgot.
DeleteWow! That sure was some drama!
ReplyDeleteAnd drama I could have done without!
DeleteNo damage to the greenhouse! Huzzah for that! Tornadoes are scary stuff, and it's a relief you had no damage.
ReplyDeleteNice to see your fruit trees making it! I hope they do well. As always, your black soil amazes me. It always evokes memories from my childhood (and getting stuck in the mud). I'm used to red and brown soil now, although watching it get darker from my soil building efforts is truly rewarding.
My first thought when the hail started falling was the greenhouse roof panels! They are still probably pretty "green" and pliable but when they become brittle, it really doesn't take much to damage them. We shall see on the fruit trees. In our efforts to transition closer to home, we may transplant some of them so they aren't out of the woods yet.
DeleteToo close for comfort, indeed! Glad you are okay. Your post reminds me how "farmer" is just another word for "gambler."
ReplyDeleteFor sure. And we try to beat the odds by overplanting in hopes that even if we go bust in one area, we are successful in another.
DeleteI honestly don't believe that there is anywhere in the US that is not getting hit by something at this point. They are calling for the wind to pick up this afternoon, once again.
ReplyDeleteHot and windy is the prediction for the rest of the week here with maybe another thunderstorm passing by on Saturday.
DeleteSounds like springtime in the Northwest minus the tornadoes. Glad everyone was OK. I still have very vivid memories of tornadoes and hiding in the basement when we lived in North Dakota.
ReplyDeleteThanks to global warming, North Dakota is completely out of tornado alley and even my area is now on the fringes as it moves a lot further east of here.
DeleteKay of Musings: Baseball sized hail?!? Wow!!! That’s amazing. I don’t think I’ve seen hail bigger than a marble. My daughter did send some photos of golf ball sized hail few years ago.
ReplyDelete