Jen,

I hope you'll never be embarrassed to say that you cried over the destruction of something that means as much to you as your garden clearly does. Who would understand those feelings better than we do? We, who might be labeled, um, garden-obsessed? We get it. We do. I can assure you that you are not the first person here to stand and observe a damaged garden with tears in your eyes. You won't be the last one either.

I mean, c'mon, if grown men can cry over sports (and we all KNOW that they do), then we garden maniacs can cry over destruction of a garden.

There's a unspoken secret to being a member of the Oklahoma Gardening Forum here. It is unspoken because it is simply a given....no matter where you live, no matter if you are posting to the forum from Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia or Louisiana....once you post here, partake in the conversation here and share the trials and tribulations of gardening here...you are a member of our gardening family. We all look after the members of our gardening family. Trust me. I have seen it in action many times. We not only share ideas, knowledge, research, photos, stories, names of favorite plants, books or nurseries...we share so much more., including seeds and plants. Even if we have never met one another, (although some of us have met person) we're still family.

So, like it or not, when someone starts posting here, they have joined a big, sometimes rowdy gardening family, whether they like it or not! Isn't is great? : )

I do think all the storms that we endure here and the frequent destruction of the best-laid gardening plans, and all the related trials and tribulations of gardening here have made us a really close-knit group, and I like that. If anyone here says "help, I have a crisis", I guarantee you members of this forum will do anything within their power to help, and that is very special.

Dawn

Hey! I am not obsessed with our garden.

Just because I'd consider any and all social contracts invalid and go all Viking-ing on everyone and everything if anything happened to it, doesn't mean that I'm obsessed.

You can tell by looking at our garden that I really don't care about it...not much, anyway. I did it that way just to keep the neighbors off my back! (Yeah! That's it! Blame it on the neighbors...)

Everyone who was affected or threatened by the storms have been in my thoughts and prayers. I haven't posted as I felt it best to let those in the affected areas use the forum to state their status. With that being said if anyone needs any seeds I would gladly send some. I have a fair stash of several different types of seeds. Just send my a message and let me know what you need and I will see what I have in my inventory. Jay

Oh, Jen, I totally understand the tears. Not only did you lose the plants you babied and cared for and had high hopes for, but really, the last couple of weeks have been almost constant weather stress. Sometimes the best way to process stress is with a good cry (you should have seen crying and chain sawing today as we cut up the tree we lost in yesterday's storm). Sounds like you are good on seeds, but I do have some lemon cucumber seeds from southern seed exchange if you want them. Also, I am going to K&k tomorrow to try to find something to plant in the now bare areas where the okra seedlings were....do you want me to look for any particular seedlings while I am there?
Krista

I completely understand - I cannot count the number of times my AMAZING (at least it seemed that way at the time, lol) garden has been decimated by hail, whether here in OKC or in Dallas over the 17 years that I lived there.

You just pick up and start over...and having the help of friends makes it quite a bit more bearable. I wish I had plants to give you - at least I am still seeing a good amount of those in the stores and garden centers.

I hope your garden bounces back with the help of the seeds and plants and amazes you through the summer!

Sharon

Thanks again guys. I am glad to be a part of this family.

Krista, thanks for the offer, but I think I'm good now.
I spent today outside helping the hubby clear tree limbs and do some repairs. It was terrible trying to walk on the soggy ground. We aren't sure how much rain we got because the rain gauge only goes to 6" and it was full.

After all of that, I ventured back to my garden I had been avoiding all day and cleared out all the stems and leaves that had broken.
It looks a bit like Charlie Brown's garden right now, but even though my round zucchini plants have a total of 2 leaves per plant left, they still have flowers and fruit on them They haven't realized yet that they were abused.

wbonesteel, lol loll lol. Trust me. You're obsessed with your garden. We all are.

Jay, I am glad to see you posting here. I miss you when we don't hear from you. Hope all is well up there in your area.

Krista, I am sorry to hear about your tree. Did you lose the entire tree or just major limbs? I have a woodland full of oaks and other trees and can mail you some tree saplings in the fall if you need a replacement tree or trees.

I do think that crying is a great stress release and the weather has stressed out so many of our forum members the last few weeks.

Sharon, I know hail is often bad in Dallas-Fort Worth and don't miss that part of living there. Looking back, I am amazed we only had to replace the roof once because of hail damage in all the years we lived there. However, the hail in central Oklahoma seems even more frequent and damaging than the hail in the D-FW metro area. I do remember that stretch of years in either the late 1980s or earliest 1990s when one part of Arlington had baseball-sized hail hit the same exact neighborhoods 3 consecutive years.

Your garden always is AMAZING and you know it, so go ahead and say it! : )

Jen, Your rainfall amount may have been higher or lower that what was recorded at your county's Oklahoma Mesonet site, but I am going to link the rainfall map for the last 4 days and that should give you an idea how much rain fell there. The number on your county represents what was recorded officially at your Mesonet station but the colors on the map indicate radar measurements of rainfall and that can help you see if your area had more rain or less rain than the Mesonet station for your county. I've had 4" less than my mesonet station for the month of May, but I know that some people here have had significantly higher rainfall totals at their homes in May than what was recorded at their mesonet stations. The 4-day map shows some astonishing rain totals in some areas.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: 4-Day Rainfall Map

Dawn,
Thanks! We actually live on an acre with more post oaks and black jack oaks and saplings than we know what to do with. This particular tree shaded the playset perfectly, and my oldest niece loved trying to swing high enough to kick the leaves. We lost the whole tree, but I left about 4 feet of the stump...I may try to paint it or turn it in to a cute "mailbox" for the nieces.