This past week in Atlanta has been a pretty scary place to live. I’ve never experienced such torrential down pours and so much water on the ground…everywhere! The water couldn’t be escaped!
My worries about my vegetable garden were nothing compared to what most of the metro area was worried about…homes, lives, belongings, pets. But, I was worried about my garden. Surrounded by two small creeks that feed into Nancy Creek, one of the rivers that overflowed its banks, I was virtually guaranteed that part, if not all of the garden would be affected.
On Monday, after days of not venturing over to see the garden out of fear of what I might find, I decided to go take photos. There are many ways to get to the property…three of which, I discovered the hard way, were blocked by the flooding creeks and rivers. I finally wound my way through a part of the neighborhood I had never been through before and found a path to our property.
My stomach was in knots as I rounded each bend in the road coming closer and closer to the property. Peeks of the green pasture, not muddy brown, came to me though the trees. Maybe it was okay? Pulling into the driveway and venturing towards the veggie patch, the pasture was completely dry! There wasn’t any evidence of flooding or water accumulation of any kind. I was stunned!
What about my recently planted veggie patch? As I approached the bridge over my little creek, I noticed the raging water, but it wasn’t even half way up the banks! And, no evidence existed that would suggest it had breached the banks, at all! I mustered the courage to walk into the garden, even though the rain had picked up and was now actually stinging me through my raincoat. Although the veggie patch was not washed out or under water, there was definitely some collateral damage from the amount and intensity of the rains we’ve had these past 10 days. Some seedlings were definitely drowned or washed away…most notably some of the root vegetables like the radishes and beets. But, others, like the collards, Swiss chard, peas and arugula were actually still there and seemed to be growing in spite of the harsh conditions.
We’ve had three days of sunshine now and tomorrow I’m going back to the veggie patch to see what crops have recovered and which ones will need to be scrapped and possibly replanted. I’m reminded of generations past whose survival and existence often depended upon their gardens. In spite of what grows or doesn’t grow in my veggie patch, I say a little prayer of thanks knowing that my family will eat tonight and subsequent nights.
If I hadn't prepared my orchids before my trip, I might have lost them all. They were still outside but I put them under a big table. When I got back, I did have to repot some phals but I brought them in to put under the lights and aimed a big fan on them. When they're dried out, outside they go until the night temps remain at 50 degrees. By the way, what is the pic of?
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