I call them my ‘mater-savers.
Fair warning #1. If you’re not a gardener, or a farmer, you may have little interest in today’s post. There isn’t a bird or a feather to be found. Well, there are a few bird feeders…
Fair warning #2. I must have been bitten by the verbose bug just before I started preparing this post. It’s a long one.
Readers may recall the vicious and devastating hailstorm that nearly wiped out my garden at about this time last year (June 3rd). I’ve been in a lot of hailstorms, many that have produced more hail than that one did, but I’d never seen nickel-sized hail come down at such incredible speeds. The amount of damage it caused was unexpected, given the amount of hail we got.
My garden was hammered. Before the hail hit this rhubarb patch was robust and beautiful. That hail tore it all to hell. The rest of my garden didn’t look any better so I didn’t have the heart to document the garden damage with more photos.
Only a few of the smaller plants, mostly seedlings, were killed outright but the damage set the rest of my garden back for weeks and eventual production of produce was significantly reduced. I eventually got tomatoes but it took much longer than usual and there were fewer of them than there should have been. They were also smaller than usual.
I’ve been a serious vegetable gardener (some flowers too) for almost my entire adult life and I live in dread of hail. Living my first 18 years on a Montana wheat and barley farm put the fear of hail in me.
This is my garden as of yesterday morning (I planted a little late but everything is really busting out now in this much warmer weather). It’s 60′ long so from this perspective you can barely see all my early veggies at the west end.
Because of my back problems and resulting surgeries it’s been five years since I’ve done much in my garden but plant tomatoes and cucumbers, growing lots of amaranth to fill in the spaces and cut down on weeds. But this year I’ve often felt well enough to go almost full bore.
As evidence of how much work I’ve put into my garden, and how badly I don’t want to lose it all to hail, here’s a list of this year’s crops.
-
- tomatoes – 5 varieties
- rhubarb
- chives
- zucchini
- pole beans
- cucumbers – 2 varieties
- peppers – 3 varieties
- eggplant
- golden beets – lots of them and I’ll be planting more later in the season
- carrots
- cabbage
- spaghetti squash
- green onions
- Swiss chard
- 7 types of herbs
- amaranth
- zinnia
- sunflowers – 3 varieties
- shade wildflowers
So you can see why I stress over hail. And this year I’ve stressed more than usual so I became determined to find a way to save at least my tomatoes in a hailstorm.
I actually asked myself the following question: If I were given a choice of saving my tomatoes and losing everything else, or losing my tomatoes to hail but saving everything else, which choice would I make? Some might call it a Sophie’s Choice but for me it wasn’t even close.
I’d choose the tomatoes in a heartbeat. A reasonably good tasting version of most everything else can be purchased at the grocery store but in my view grocery store tomatoes are fodder for the garbage disposal, on their best day. A summer and fall without BLT’s and salsa made with fresh garden tomatoes is unthinkable.
This is one of my tomato cages. 30+ years ago I made them out of concrete reinforcing wire and they’ve worked out perfectly for supporting my tomatoes. I have nine tomato plants and nine cages like this one to support them. Each cage is 4′ high and 2′ in diameter.
So, how am I going to protect my tomatoes from hail?
I made nine 2′ x 2′ square ‘mater-savers out of 1/4″ plywood that I’ll place atop each cage just prior to, or at the beginning of, a hailstorm.
Notice the wire running across the top of the plywood. I have a 5’ piece of wire attached to the side of each cage. If there’s wind, or a threat of wind, from the storm I can wrap the wire over the top of the plywood and attach it at the other side of the cage in less than 5 seconds. The wire will prevent the plywood from being blown off.
This is the stack of all nine of my ‘mater-savers. At first I thought I’d store them in my shed, which as you can see is only about 2’ from the east edge of my garden. But that meant that in the event of hail I’d have to haul them some distance to my tomatoes, which would take time. Time is of the essence in a hailstorm.
So instead I decided to wrap them in plastic and keep them in my garden, only about 7′ away from my tomatoes. It’s ugly but functional.
Here all nine of my tomatoes are covered by ‘mater-savers. In the event of a hailstorm, it should take me less than a minute to place all nine of them on the cages. And if there’s wind, maybe another minute to wrap the wires across the top of each one and attach it to the other side of the cage.
No plan for saving tomatoes from hail is perfect. By the time the tomatoes are full grown, some of each plant will stick out sideways too far to be protected from hail damage. But most of each plant will be protected so I’ll have my tomatoes. And my BLT’s and salsa.
At least that’s the plan. I just hope I’m home when hail hits. But I always have been in the past so hopefully that trend will continue.
Ron
Notes:
- Originally I intended to make my ‘mater-savers out of 1″ thick rigid foam but visits to two craft stores were unproductive in finding foam pieces as large as I needed. Besides, craft stores are way out of my comfort zone. I also discovered that rigid foam isn’t cheap.
- I must admit, I’d hate to lose my golden beets almost as much as I’d hate to lose my tomatoes.
- I now live alone so you may be wondering what in the hell I’m going to do with all that garden produce, especially the tomatoes. I’ll eat a lot of it (BLT’s, salsa etc.) and I’ll give much of the rest of it to neighbors and friends. Besides, I garden mostly for fun, recreation and the satisfaction it inevitably provides. And to scratch my farmer’s itch.
- You may also wonder why I’m not using a drip system for watering. I did use one for the last two years but I discovered that it required too much bending and time being on my knees, which is impossible with the metal rods in my back. Besides, I enjoy hand watering and I can easily switch over to automatic sprinkler watering when necessary.
What an excellent idea. And yes, I would save the matoes too. And the rhubarb. And the golden beets – which I almost never see in the stores here.
EC, I don’t see golden beets in the stores here either. I don’t even like red beets but I do the golden ones.
Ron what seed catalogs do you buy out of.
Save the rhubarb too! 😂 I’m likely going to be up and back cooking at 🎵🎶camp this summer (waiting for the final word), so I’ll have to stick with my citrus and hit up the good farmers market stands. Waiting for some summer BLTs and of course the “purist” tomato sandwiches — with Best Foods/Hellman’s (sorry, Duke’s lovers). 🍅
“Save the rhubarb too!”
I will if I can, Marty. At least until the best of the season is over for rhubarb, which is probably about now.
I always use Best Foods and I’ve never seen Duke’s at any grocery store around here.
If you eat ‘mater sandwiches in the south it’s always white bread and Duke’s. Duke’s is good mayo, but it’s no Best Foods. (Now we pop some popcorn and wait for the Duke’s people to weigh in. 😉😂)
I kinda figured Duke’s was a southern thing.
I hope this works well for you I know how much you look forward to fresh tomatoes. But it’s one place we have to disagree. I would do nothing to save a tomato, but that’s because of the reaction they cause. For me, they are deadly, quite literally. The alkaloid in raw tomatoes causes the tissues in my throat to immediately begin to swell and breathing becomes very, very difficult. Just a couple of drops trigger this so I can’t even safely remove them from a salad.Cooking destroys the alkaloid so pasta with tomato sauce is wonderful. I know I’m very much in the minority. I’ve only ever met one other person with this same reaction. But I wish you great success. Enjoy them!
Dang, that’s awful Dan. And potentially very scary. If I were in your shoes I’d feel the same way.
I would have chosen to save the ‘maters too.
Good luck with that Ron.
Thanks, Michael. For me it was an easy choice. Although the golden beets made me think twice about it.
You might be able to put a hoop of reinforcing wire over your beet and mount a roll of heavy duty clear plastic on a bracketed wooden dowel for quick deployment. Golden beets sound yummy. I want to learn how to brine & pickel veggies. Doesn’t take as much equipment as canning. The amaranth is taking off. Nice garden spot
That’s a wonderful solution. We seldom have hail here, so I don’t have to worry about covering my tomatoes – I grow them along twine hanging from 7 foot overhanging cattle panel arches. But if we had hail, your method is the way to go.
Kent, it sounds like you’re growing indeterminate tomatoes. I’ve never tried them. Maybe I should.
Good job creating your ‘Mater Savers’. What happens if the wind is strong? Will the cages become airborne? Your garden is impressive and lovely. I hope no hail rains on your parade 😉
“What happens if the wind is strong?”
Melanie, see my two responses to Judy below.
That should work as long as the wind doesn’t drive it “sideways”….;) GREAT idea. Like your tomato cages too. Something like Home Depot would have been a better bet for rigid foam in the sizes needed. My tomatoes and peppers are still in pots waiting to go in – cold and wind have deterred me.
Judy, when I made the cages I cut the wire so that about 16 4″ pieces of the wire stick into the ground. That makes them stable, even in most winds. Now in a Montana wind, maybe not. 🙂
I was thinking of hail coming through the wires……was SURE you had it well anchored!
Some of that could happen, Judy. But we seldom get sideways hail. At least not very sideways…
A day in the life of a tomato lover! Because of your descriptions of your tomatoes I purchased a raised garden bed this year – JUST to grow tomatoes! Will see where that leads … have a lot of critters here that would love to enjoy a garden! The raised bed is safely positioned on our deck. BTW – made your rhubarb cobbler on Sunday for friends – delish!
Kathleen, I’m delighted to hear you liked the cobbler. I’ve made it several times this spring. Should make some more while I still can.
Good luck with your new tomato garden.
Thanks for the great idea! I will probably make a modified version of your shields for our garden. Last years hail was brutal.
“Last years hail was brutal.”
It sure as hell was, Brett. It’s still fresh in my memory.
Looks like excellent work by our Feathered Photographer. I never eat tomatoes Ron – allergic, but I have often grown them for my wife in a large raised bed we use. No birds in the photos but bet there were some up in the trees watching. We have a large cherry tree with lots of ripe fruit that attract the House Finches and our resident Spotted Towhees.
Everett, my neighbor has a cherry tree on the far side of his house.. For years birds would drop cherries on my deck and make a bit of a mess. They don’t do it anymore and I don’t know why.
I loved todays post, and am glad you included your last paragraph–
all the way through, I was wondering-“Does he can ? Does he freeze? dry ? You must have a heckuva lot of grateful friends
and neighbors ! You reminded me of a great aunt who raised ( and
ate) a lot of tomatoes–with her overflow abundance, she made “tomato leather” ( like fruit leather ),seasoned with a small amount
of ground cinnamon–a wonderful treat !
I’ll have to look into that tomato leather idea, Kris. Thanks for the inspiration.
You may not be an ingenue, but you sure don’t suffer from a lack of ingenuity. Happy BLTs!
Much appreciated, Burrdoo. All BLT’s are happy… 🙂
Very creative. You have thought things through and came up with an effective plan. I think you have some engineering skills. As I recall you made a device to steady your camera on your truck.
Your yard looks like a nice place to sit outside and enjoy the summer.
Kaye
“Your yard looks like a nice place to sit outside and enjoy the summer.”
Believe me, Kaye. I do a lot of that. Especially in the mornings.
As to the engineering skills, I don’t know about that. When I was in college my best friend, Wayne Kinder, was majoring in civil engineering so I spent a fair amount of time in the Engineering Building. That was out of my comfort zone too. Way too much math for me.