Hailstorm killed my garden. Pictures.

[Hykue]

There was a crazy hailstorm yesterday, and it decimated my garden.  Everything that was outside is toast.  I might still have one or two corn plants, one pea plant, and a handful of carrots.  The greenhouse stayed intact, so the majority of the plants in there are fine - one watermelon was too close to the windows and got pummeled, but I still have lots of tomato and pepper plants, one watermelon plant, a couple of eggplants, and some squash starts that I was too lazy to plant out yet (luckily).  I've heard about hailstorms ruining gardens, but I've never seen it firsthand.  It's really something else.  I thought I'd share pictures, because I'm blown away.

My garden wasn't too far along, because I'm in zone 1.  There also isn't too much more season left, for the same reason.  I'll replant all the pretty quick-growing stuff and hope, but I'm sure glad that we won't starve if our garden doesn't produce, because it doesn't look too hopeful right now.

I also have farm animals, and I'm very glad that they were safely in the barn.  It might have deafened them, all that hail on the metal roof, but at least they're safe and sound.

The start of the storm:

30 minutes later:

Here's what's left of the tomato and pepper seedlings that I hadn't planted out yet.  The visible leaves are from trees - most of the tomato and pepper leaves are just gone.

The carrot bed:

The dry bean bed:

The pea fence:

One of my rhubarb plants:

One of my lovely pink lupines that was in full bloom two days ago:

This is me standing in the main garden path.  The water/hail mixture was about 3-4 inches deep here.

This picture was taken last year on June 26.  It's my front flower bed.  It looked EXACTLY like this two days ago, so this is a good "before" picture.

And this is that same bed yesterday evening, so the "after" picture:

So, that's that.  I'm glad that it seems to have missed most of the farmers.  I feel really bad for the ones that it hit, their crops won't be worth a thing, if they survive at all.

[tinuviel_k]

I am so sorry! You must be heartbroken.

[SuburbanHippie]

I have NEVER seen hail like that!  That must have been one heck of a storm!  I'm glad you all are okay, even if your plants didn't fare so well. 

[shaywyn]

That is awful!  I have been whining because we had quite a bit of hail damage from a storm that passed through a few days ago, but nothing even close to that. I am so, so sorry.

[ElliesMomma]

yikes, that looks with winter. how far north are you?

[HeatherAtHome]

I am so, so sorry. I can't imagine putting all that work into something like that and dealing with the devastation. You're right, we're lucky that we don't depend on the food we grow to survive through the winter! Was this a very rare storm or is it a real risk when you're in zone 1? I'm curious, how long IS your growing season? 

I wonder if the peas and carrots might bounce back? They seem to be the type of veggies that can withstand cold temperatures. I know the peas look sort of gone, but wonder if the less damaged ones might regrow?  The carrots especially have such a big root and they seem to sprout new leaves easy enough (I'm thinking when they're left in storage too long, like potatoes). 

I would also harvest some rhubarb if you haven't yet. A good thing you have a greenhouse! The above pics are depressing enough that I don't think I'd dare grow things outside it again! 

That is so sad. (It reminds me of The Game of Thrones. "Winter is coming!")

ETA: When I scrolled back up, I thought the greenery from the bean bed were the carrots.... I guess the carrots may not have been big enough to survive. 

[verde]

Wow!       

I'm sorry. :(

[Hykue]

Thanks, guys.  I just can hardly get over the amount and force of the hail, even now.  I think even more than the cold, the problem was the physical pummeling.  I didn't really take a picture of the spinach plants, they're just kind of little heaps of green goo.  I'm in central Saskatchewan, so pretty far north, but it's been consistently in the 70's even with the rainy weather.  It still took over 24 hours for all the hail to melt.

HeatherAtHome:  I think it's pretty rare.  Hailstorms happen most years somewhere, but they usually only hit a small area and they don't usually have quite such large hailstones, so they don't do this much damage.  But they are common enough that hail insurance is probably a very good idea for farmers.  The growing season is, on average, about 105-110 days.  But they're long days, so things grow faster, I think.  And I don't think the peas will make it, most of them are pretty pulverized.  Maybe a few . . . but there's probably enough days left in the season to get at least a bit of a crop off of a new planting.  The carrots were quite small, and a few will recover, and even if they're small, they still keep pretty well.  So I'll replant those too . . . if it ever stops raining long enough to get into the garden.  I'm sure I'll try again next year, the chances of getting hit by a bad hailstorm two years in a row must be low, right?

Anyway, I just wanted to share those pictures because it was pretty unbelievable.  I've never really seen the damage that hail can do before this.

[RosieL]

Geez Hykue, I don't know what to say. That's a crazy crazy storm. So sorry you lost so much. :(

[insidevoice]

Gosh- I'm so sorry!  We've had hail rolling through pretty regularly lately, but it;s been small- and in short enough bursts that we haven't had that kind of damage.  We had one about an hour ago- and I found pea-sized hail in my garden bed, but minimal damage to the plants- so far.  I hope you are able to replant and have a substantial recovery- I know it's a little late to start over, but we have a similar climate and I had good success even planting into July a couple years ago- I just had to make sure to cover or use the sprinkler to avoid early frost damage to extend the season.

[mattemma04]

Wow you got a lot.So sorry for all the damage and veggie/flower loss.

[Owen'nZoe]

Wow - that is awful, Hykue! I'd be devastated. :( It has been a couple days since you last posted - is anything coming back?

[Hykue]

I replanted a bunch of stuff yesterday.  The carrots actually look like they will recover (I was sure they were to small to come back, but they're apparently really tough), and about 20% of the peas are sending up new shoots.  The potatoes should recover, too, by the looks of things (which isn't too surprising, potatoes are pretty tough).  Some of the corn plants look like they might live, although only a few look like they're doing well.  The hail actually thinned my parsnips for me, which made me giggle.  The only thing that is probably a complete loss is the dry beans - they need too long of a season to replant.  And the corn that I just planted to fill in the gaps might be too late too.  The beets will be small (I'll replant them in the next day or two), the kale and the swiss chard will be late.  The peas will be late too, but my husband works away all summer every year, and misses the peas, so maybe this year he'll get fresh peas!

I felt pretty wiped out after planting yesterday - 60 feet of peas planted and weeded, I planted about 20 herb transplants, maybe 30 corn seeds, 80 snap beans, and 16 squashes.  It wasn't actually ALL that much, but I'm pregnant and exhausted anyway.  Phew!  But now I have new seeds sprouting to look forward to, and that's a good feeling.

[RosieL]

Hykue - You and your garden sound wonderfully resilient!

[gumshoegirl007]

I've never seen hail like that!  I'm in awe of the size of it and how much damage it did.  I'm so sorry about your garden and equally amazed at what you've managed to re-plant!

[Owen'nZoe]

Hykue, so glad that your garden isn't a total loss! Hope you've recovered from your recovery effort. :)

[HeatherAtHome]

Glad to hear some of the stuff IS coming back and that you'll have time to replant most of it. :)

[kathymuggle]

Wow!  And not in a good way....

I am glad some stuff survived - I thought your carrots might.

While pricey - you might get some seedlings from a garden centre. 

Hang in there,

Kathy

[root*children]

LINK 

The link is photos of the 1/2 hour hail storm we had in May.  Not quite as bad as yours, but coming kinda close.  A month later, and our garden looks great!  A lot smaller than it should be at this time of year (shorter plants), but everything looks healthy.  Even the tomatoes popped out new sprouts and are chugging right along :)  Hope yours is as resiliant!!

[Hykue]

Wow, it looks like you got it pretty bad too.  (My name is also Julie - that's a funny coincidence).  Thanks for the uplifting news - if your stuff recovered so well, ours probably will keep on getting better too.  The video is much like a video I took - so LOUD.  I can hardly even watch mine, it hurts my ears unless I mute it.

The garden is looking a lot better.  I'm really glad we have a greenhouse, though, because the tomatoes and peppers in there would have been set so far back that we wouldn't have gotten anything from them.  As it is, I have a few ripe cherry tomatoes already, and there are quite a few small green tomatoes on their way, and a few peppers coming too.  Yay!  And most of my replanted seeds are up (except the beets, I've had terrible germination rates all year on the beets) and starting to grow pretty well.  Still small, of course, just seed leaves mostly, but they're coming along.  And the corn recovered really well!  I guess that makes sense, because it's a monocot, so it grows from the bottom, not from the tips, but I'm still amazed at how well it's doing.  I'll have to take pictures again soon, just to prove to myself that gardens are tougher than I think, in future years.