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I can't believe I did it. A senior moment, at the wrong time. My flats of plants, sitting on the boardwalk, waiting to be planted in higher ground, took ~6" of saltwater at the top of the tide this evening. I even checked the state of the water at this morning's high tide. When This evening's high came around, I was sitting at my desk, gazing through my magnifying lamp, cleaning Alyssum montanum seed. I glanced up at the computer and saw my tide software window, just hitting high tide. Dashed out, saw them sitting in the water, dashed back in and pulled on my tall boots, and went out to rescue them.
A dozen flats...probably 150 plants, spent a short time (1-2 hours, max) sitting in brackish water. I pulled them up onto the lawn, and flushed them out good with the hose, and now it's raining on them again. I'm consoling myself with a Gin & Tonic, and trying to convince myself that they'll be ok. Very brackish water, not much salt (I tasted it The worst drownee was a 10" pot of Prickly Pear Cactus ears that I rooted earlier in the year. It was completely submerged, and bobbing along, somewhat restrained by the flat it was in. It should be fine, as these things grow on the beach around here, and surely get salt floods. Other's soaked range from Rudes to ornamental grasses. I guess this'll be a good test of their salt tolerance. I've been here 8 years, and this is only the 2nd time the canal has covered the boardwalk, and we aren't even in a high-water moon cycle. This blow from the east, and all the rain, just ganged up on me. This means I have to design some fixtures for the boardwalk, that'll keep plants up out of the tide's range in the future. Great...I needed another project. (PS...they were almost free, cuz I grew them all from WS'd seed!! Worst case scenario? Very high-grade compost! |
, another reason for the G&T), their bands and rootballs were saturated with all the rain since yesterday....they'll be ok, right?
)
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by Irish_rose_grower z7 LI NY (My Page) on Wed, Oct 12, 05 at 22:12
| Donn, I hope your plants will be ok. This rain is out of control. Enjoy your gin & tonic, get a good nights sleep and let us know how they do. The rain is supposed to stop tomorrow. Maureen |
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| It's Thursday and it's still raining. Wish we had some of this back in August. Donn, don't worry about the plants, I am sure the sun will shine one of these days. |
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| Over 17" of rain in a week! I haven't seen so much rain since monsoon season in Vietnam. |
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| 10 days later and it's raining again in SE Mass! And the worst part of it is the winds! It's a super-noreaster - whoopee... Claire |
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| Donn, Dagnab those storms. I hope the opuntia shakes off the effects. They are rugged cactuses, so I bet it will. Rinsing those roots thoroughly is probably all you needed to do. After this season, you might want to landscape with spartina and eel grass. lol The tides have been terribly high here as well, thanks to Wilma, but I'm a couple blocks from the estuary and the harbor in my town, so the water I have been dealing with has been rain runoff. We got deluged yesterday, and the winds hit 50-60mph in some spots. Nothing like Florida's ordeal, but enough to trash gardens. I can't see the ground because of all the leaves (green -- didn't even get to change color) and twigs covering it. |
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| Donn: How did your plants and boardwalk survive this latest weather abomination? For me, the downside to having a wonderful view of the Bay is that I spent a day and a half watching defenseless trees writhe and thrash in the wind gusts while the waves crashed down on the beach. Not to mention that my weathervane was blown off. Got to pick up the downed branches and check the beach for damage. but the sun is coming out, and the wind is just a gentle breeze. And they seem to have canceled next week's noreaster. Claire |
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| All the plants seem to have survived, and many of them are now in the ground, in higher locations. We took more water over the bulkhead this time than last time, but I was out there moving the flats well in advance. I got 3 more inches of rain yesterday, for a total of 20 this month...some kind of record, I believe. The sun is out now, and there's a gentle breeze from the NW. It's threatening to get up to 50° and I believe I'll go out and install some more seedlings. |
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| Maybe I'll just keep my weather after all. Since that last post, my part of the NE Coast has had stellar weather; nice temperatures, ample sunshine and no further rain. I'm putting in 8-hour days in the garden, and really making headway. It could stay like this for weeks, and I'd be happy. |
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| You win some, you lose some, you win some. Classic sparkly fall days here too (except for one day of snow(!)..)- comfortable breezes through open windows and doors, the jacket stays on the back of the chair, lunch on the deck. But I'm still watching my back. This stuff can, and will, turn on you if you relax too much. Although the extended weather forecast has a lot of smiling yellow suns in it... One day at a time. Thanks for sharing your weather. Claire |
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