Hurricane Henri is heading my way, and we are probably going to get a long wet and windy shellacing where I am at. Any suggestions on how to secure: Tomato plants Watermelon vines ( without any potentially anchoring melons) Cucumbers I have other plants (e.g. corn, beans), but I know their fate. Any advice on how to secure my garden will be greatly appreciated? PS - I thought about staking a tarp over the watermelon vines (which aren't too numerous, developed or dispered). PPS - while it looks sheltered, the opening you see there is to the WxSW, exactly from whence the wind will be a blowing.
I have some 10 foot wooden poles, and one thing I am going to do is dig a 1 foot hole, stick the pole in and cover the dirt with large flat brick slabs. Then I will tie ropes from the big pole to the smaller, already stressed, plastic and old iron poles you see in the photo.
I suggest that you don't put up anything new. As everything in your garden is likely to get destroyed, (if the hurricane hits your area directly). So don't put up any new structures, as it will simply mean more stuff to fall. Also, if the hurricane hits directly, all that you can save now, are the seeds, (to plant later). So focus on that, and covering all the glass windows of your house with scotch tape, masking tape, or better yet duct tape, (so that there are no flying shards of glass anywhere when the hurricane hits). Charge up all the batteries, (it will be a good idea to buy some extra right now). Store fuel in the home also. And make sure your medical first aid kits are fully stocked. If there are people in your family with special needs, like if there is anyone who is a diabetic, then please make sure they have insulin or anything else which they'll need periodically. Have some type of a 2 way citizen band radio also, (in case cellphone towers fall down, and landlines also fail). Lastly, keep all firearms (if any) and edged weapon in fully functioning order... I say this, because crazy and ultra desperate people are now everywhere, (who will want to try their luck at the slightest excuse). Specially after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
These are some live weather satellite images of your area, (updated constantly every few minutes), which I have embedded here for you. Hope they will be of some help when it comes to keeping an eye on the hurricane. Below is the link in case anyone else wants to know about the weather in their own part of the world. All images get updated every few minutes. https://www.aviationweather.gov/data/obs/sat/intl/ All other so-called metrologists on TV and the internet actually steal images and information from this website. And then pretend that they knew everything on their own. https://www.aviationweather.gov/ This free website is actually a very good guide for aircraft pilots and maritime vessels everywhere.
I plan on bringing in all my houseplants that are currently weathering outdoors. Other than that, all my veggie plants are on their own. Maybe I'll pick as many veggies as I can today. We're not used to this sort of weather in New England!
Thanks for all the advice and links (radical radars, Batman!). I am going to work with the expectation that we will only get the sub 90 KMpH winds here. In which case, some plants may survive, and I will attempt the staked tarp over watermelon vines. This is the addition I have made, because my flimsy set up was not designed around a tropical storm, and there is sooo much more weight on them now: ( pic to come) This big "gardener's cross" goes a foot/ 30 cm down, and is weighted at the base 25 lb brick slabs. I have a second I am about to put in as well. Those shouldn't get blown down. Tying the existing flimsy poles to these new big "gardener's cross" supports will offer some needed load shedding. It might possibly save the plants in the elevated bed. Mixed in with the ginormous cucumber plant there in the elevated bed are two tomato plants I have been baby-sitting since May. I've nursed them through blight, aphids, wind-storms, and unseen enemies I couldn't figure out. And they are still only giving green fruit! I can't give up on them now! I can't... I won't, lol!
The roots of the plant underground are the important part of the plant. The green growth above ground will try again after the storm is done. You might want to cut it back before the storm so the wind whipping around does not have a chance to actually pull it all out.
If possible, please have an extra car battery. I keep mine inside the car, so that it always stays charged. With jumpstart cables, and a portable 20 watt solar panel too. I also have a big 2000 watt 12 volt DC to 220 volt AC inverter (pure sign wave) installed in my car as well. So in times of need, I can easily power any equipment in my house with it. Plus I ALWAYS keep extra diesel stored at home, (enough to easily last me a few months), as well as Inside the car, (to extend my range). Hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, and floodings - All have become more and more common in the last decade. Why is this happening, is a never ending argument, (so I rather avoid getting into that). But like it or not, we all are experiencing extreme weather in our localities. Whatever was a once in a hundred year occurrence, we are now seeing happen regularly. Authorities too are either incompetent to begin with, (honestly, when have they ever been competent in recent times?). Or they simply aren't equipped to handle these changes in our environment and climate. So we need to be ready for everything ourselves, as much as possible anyhow. To me, it's just a sensible thing to do, (instead of depending on others in authority to rescue us, which practically speaking they will never get around to doing in time)...
Ditto an inverter. I had a problem with my old clanky generator the last outage and literally ran the refridgerators and tvs off some batteries, an inverter and my chevy truck. Funny, tomorrow am the electrician comes to install the new generator. It is big enough to run the hvac system and keep ice in my glass of tea.
My home already has independent solar power also. So I am completely off the grid. Feels so good, never having to pay another electricity bill again...
I realise how terrible it can and is but what a very very enlightening thread. I can remember just plain storms at the beach in Bexhill on Sea ~East Sussex and the stoney beach covered the walkways completely. During some of the windy time, we went to the beach front, as much as it felt quite thrilling, the dangers if you got to close were obvious.
The last hurricane that hit us has some some winds strong enough to break 6 or so aged power poles so we were without power for at least 3 days. My prep for this year was a stronger generator that can run off of our propane tank for a week.
