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tomncath

TS Debbie & my veggie garden don't mix :-(

tomncath
11 years ago

You all know I live in peninsular Pinellas County only 100 yards from a bayou to Tampa Bay and that my garden is only 8-10 feet from a brackish lake feeding to the bayou. With the tidal surges and flooding from all the rain we just experienced my lake rose to the near side of my boardwalk meaning that all the ground soil in my raised bed has again been contaminated with brackish salt and who knows what else since this is a suburban environment....This is one reason I'm veggie bucket gardening, but I still depend on the tomato roots tapping into the ground soil toward the end of their lives :-(

Tom

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Comments (26)

  • tinael01
    11 years ago

    Wow - and I was upset because my tomatoes split. Sorry about that Tom. What do you do to clean this up ready for fall gardening? Order soil?

  • wallisadi
    11 years ago

    wow, that water is getting a bit too close for comfort! hope all works out for you and your plants. falling trees and branches and that moss everyone finds so "southern looking!" coming down in huge clumps on top of everything is our main concern. good luck to all, should see some sun by friday!

  • whgille
    11 years ago

    Hi Tom

    I am so sorry about your problems with the rain but we all have to think about all positive things, at least us or the houses are not damaged. Little by little we all have to get our gardens clean after the rain. I feel very sorry for Amber too that one of the trees came down. I think the Tampa area being close to the water is been hitting the worst. The good news is that hopefully ends soon. Cheer up!

    Silvia

  • L_in_FL
    11 years ago

    Sorry to hear about that, Tom. Good luck with the cleanup; hopefully Debby will hurry up and leave.

  • DPSEED
    11 years ago

    wow,
    and i was upset because i lost one tomatoe plant so far
    good luck with the clean up

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    Wow, Tom, that waterline did come up really high on your property! I know you are disappointed. I'm hoping the cleanup is not too bad and maybe it won't hurt the tomatoes as much as you fear. It must be frustrating to just watch that waterline creep up and up.

    Carol in Jax

  • shuffles_gw
    11 years ago

    Tom, what a mess. My whole backyard was under water yesterday morning. My brown turkey fig tree was looking great, producing lots. I know it won't like this flooding.

  • saldut
    11 years ago

    Sorry Tom, that is such a heartache.... but maybe it is not salt-water completely, it rained so hard and I'm thinking that the pond filled up w/rain-water and couldn't drain very fast, so the water maybe is not too salty?? Years ago when we had that 'No-Name storm', the wind pushed the in-coming tide up the Bayou into our yard, but it was raining so hard it didn't damage any of the plants because the rain washed the salt away! anyway, here's hoping... sally

  • tomncath
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the kinds words everyone. It's not that bad, remember that this is not the first time I've experienced this, that's why I have 5 gallon buckets buried in those beds and put 3.5 gallon buckets nested into the 5 gallon buckets to grow all my veggies in, I make 2-3 cubic yards of a modified Al's Mix every year for this reason...something I'm willing to do to grow fresh veggies :-) :-(

    Tom

  • tomncath
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    So, looks like my rain lilies are just laughing at the brackish intrusion :-)

    And this newbie was supposed to be white, I think somebody got their wires crossed :-) :-(

    Tom

  • Randy Ritchie
    11 years ago

    How's the water level now? You probably have been working on clean-up, after damage assessment. What a bad storm that was, for so many.

    I did like seeing the rain lilies. I had a few in a pot, but didn't know what they were called. Now that I see your beautiful stand of them, I'm embarrassed at my tiny little pot of them, and single bloom...Ah well. Maybe I'll divide them into two pots, just in case I should lose some of them. Gardeners' insurance.
    girlsaylor

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    Tom, the rain lilies look great! Please tell me that yellow one didn't come from the Jacksonville seeds. It looks too mature. I've had many from seed and never anything but the white ones.

    I remember you saying that you recently ordered some yellow and white bulbs... Anyway, it may be the wrong color in the wrong spot but it is very pretty and bright!

    Carol

  • ibarbidahl
    11 years ago

    Tom-

    I think I remember a picture a lot like this a few years ago. You always seem to dig back out again. (pun intended)Perhaps a renewed since of need will strike you. I know that each time you've flooded out you have always come back better than before so it may seem awful now but you'll get there.

    My garden is drowned, too. So I'll join you in your woes. The only thing celebrating is the Jamaican cherry and my rain lillies, too. They seem to be happy. Maybe I should put some sort of water restriction around the bush for the future. LOL.

    We will all be tending to our gardening wounds I know I'll be pouting a lot the next few weeks while I figure out what is left and not. I know all the curcurbits except one are goners. Starting over always feels rough until you get past the first few weeks. Then that reguvenated feeling kicks in! Like others I hope the extra rain washed the tidal salt away for you.

    Barbie~

  • tomncath
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hey Navygirl, put some of the bulbs in the ground and they'll go crazy giving you blooms over they summer ;-)

    Carol, that was one of the ones I recently bought from the same guy you referenced. Obviously the bags were mislabeled, the whites were supposed to be swamp plants so I put them at the bottom of the garden and have been giving them lots of water, now I know why what is supposed to be yellow at the top of the garden is struggling, I have not been giving them enough water because I thought they were the yellows that did not like wet feet :-(

    Barbie, this stuff never gets me down. I'm 4th generation and used to it, you learn to expect it and how to get around it if you live here long enough ;-)

    Tom

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    Oh, Tom, that is too funny (in hindsight). But aren't you glad you figured it out? Will you move them/swap locations?

    How deep did you plant your bulbs? I purchased some zephyranthes grandiflora - the large pink rain lilies. The bulbs finally arrived yesterday. Most of what I read on the internet says to plant the bulbs at least an inch deep. These don't have any green leaves at the top nor any roots - just bulbs and only bulbs. In a hurry to get them in the ground.

    By the way, if I understand, on your bulbs, the bag labels were just swapped... but if you find that you don't have what you thought you bought, I think the seller will stand behind everything and make it right. He is a good guy.

    Carol

  • nessz79_10a
    11 years ago

    Where do you buy these beautiful rain lilies? I have some extra pots with nothing in them right now...

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    Nessz, I have extra seeds if you want some white ones. See link below for photos. I purchased pink Zephyranthes Grandiflora rain lily bulbs on eBay (as their seeds are sterile).

    Carol in Jax

    Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Lilies

  • nessz79_10a
    11 years ago

    I would *love* to have any extras you could send me. I would be happy to send you a SASE if you just send me your address.

    Thank you! People have been so nice here on this forum. :)

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    Sure! Please send me an email. You don't have yours set up on your "My Page".

    Carol

  • tomncath
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Carol, I buried the bulbs like any other bulb, half in the ground, then sprinkled a very light layer of mulch on top of them. I also bought some Grandiflora ;-) I won't move the whites and yellows now, I'll just watch and see what happens....

    Tom

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    Tom - thanks for the planting info. Too funny! LOL, we're both after those big pink ones! Well, you have a head start on me... please post photos when you get some blooms. :)

    Carol

  • cammunizm
    11 years ago

    I found myself rushing to Lowe's to buy a rain suit and rain boots, the latter of which they were out of, so I could dig a trench in standing water to get it to flow so that it (a) did not flood the A/C fan unit and (b) kill everything. I ended up buying some hot-pink womens rainboots at Target that fit me aha.

    Anyhow, I've lost all my tomato, beebalm, and lemon balm plants. It looks like I am set to lose my lavender, butterfly bush, cone flowers, and some daisy bushes unless they bounce back. Right now they've all got saggy/droopy leaves.

    le sigh.

    Cambridge

  • Skitzoid_Lady
    11 years ago

    The only thing we lost was the doors off our aluminum shed. The plants all survived, and the chickens were fine. The truth of the matter is that the yard hasn't looked this green in a while. We are 60 feet above sea level, but just five minutes from Redington Beach.

  • tomncath
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'm glad you fared so well.

    We are 60 feet above sea level, but just five minutes from Redington Beach.

    We'll that puts you on the Pinellas ridge then, I take it you're on OLD Ridge road?

    (Tom, who's been here more than a day or two ;-)

  • leelee_2008
    11 years ago

    has the garden dried out and rebounded yet? I noticed afternoon thunderstorms seem to be more on the west coast of florida since debby

  • tomncath
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Everything is doing fine at my place, but I've learned to plant flowering plants known to be hardy, such as pentas, salvias, porterweed, cosmos, bulbine, plumbago, tatarian aster and these lilies...I'm a late bloomer to the flowers but getting better.

    Tom

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