Two giant hail storms two days apart, it certainly doesn’t take long for a gardener’s proverbial blue skies to turn grey. One could say after the two storms I was a little worried about the status of Harvest Gardens, especially having grown up hearing stories of hail damage wiping out whole crops on the prairies. But there’s no sense in crying over spilled milk, better to buck up and assess the damage. So after taking the opportunity to save some golf-ball size hail in my freezer, I quickly summoned the courage to check out the gardens status (it took me a few days, some people are quicker than others).
Anyway, so I’m trudging down the park with a heavy heart, unsure of what I’m going to find. In my head I’m picturing the carnage from a Chuck Norris action flick; after all fake blood comes from tomatoes right. You think I would have caught on by now to the resilience of Harvest Gardens and its caretakers. Instead of the Norris leftovers I find gardens exploding with veggies and gardeners unfazed by the barely existent memories of ‘Oh yah that was a pretty big storm’, ‘I didn’t know we got hail twice’.
The season is definitely in full swing as Kate trots down to collect her daily lettuce and other assorted goodies for dinner. Joanne comes by to thin the Food Bank onions and takes a few bags down to drop off, our first donation, very exciting. And Brenda and Rigel take their turn at watering all the beds on a beautiful summer day.
Upon closer inspection there were a few signs of the stormy weather, basically some bent stalks and raggedy leaves; but to be honest I’ve caused more damage from sneezing fits. The gardens look great and more importantly the vegetables taste great. I myself have enjoyed spinach and lettuce that I don’t think have ever been so fresh.
In case you were wondering about someone saving hail…‘Why save hail?’ you might ask, as did my wife. The obvious answer is because it would melt if you left it in the yard. Despite my logical response we no longer have hail in our freezer, and it did melt.
