winds are born
i am destruction
invisible scars
left to fester
A couple of months ago (in April to be specific), we had some really bad winds that brought about historic destruction - 300-year-old trees were destroyed while so many peoples' homes got damaged. Now, we are experiencing it all over again; call it Storm 2.0. As of writing this post, someone lost their lives in the storm and at least 15 000 people are displaced. My last HiveGarden Journal entry was almost two weeks ago, or 10 days ago; I was hopeful and excited. Now, I am worried and left to pick up the scraps, again. Since writing that post, it has not stopped raining. For ten days now, it has been non-stop rain and it looks like there is more rain to come.
Water gives life, but too much water is destructive. The wind cleans the air, but it also destroys everything in its path.
After the previous wind damage, most, if not all, of my basil and gooseberry plants got badly damaged. I needed to cut most of them. This time around, the gooseberry plants somehow managed to survive the winds, and I am still seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. The basil, however, is badly damaged and I think coming spring I will replant these flower pots.
Also a couple of weeks ago, I built some raised beds from scrap materials which I decorated with succulent plants. Since then, they have survived the rains, winds, and everything else. They are growing so beautifully!
The rest of my plants are also holding on, to my surprise! The intruder plants which I am for now leaving in, the basil, the amaranth, the various rockets, and everything else are growing so well. I am really impressed. Some things are doing better than others though, like the Swiss chard!
The Swiss chard is absolutely growing wild! The seedlings are almost ready for harvesting, and transplanted ones have yielded so much food already. Last night, we harvested a couple of bowls of Swiss chard and garlic chives for dinner.
Interestingly, I found some "living herbs" for sale at the store where I bought some food. They had a sale where they sold a couple of thyme plants for $1.50 and I thought why not try and grow some more? I have tried to grow thyme from cuttings, directly placing them in the ground, and this has worked but they grow so slowly. Now, I planted four new thyme plants, and I placed various cuttings even from the new plants in the ground as well. With all of the rains, I have high hopes that they will grow roots relatively quickly.
 |   |
|---|---|
I saw a brief moment in time (thyme - punny) to run outside to take these photographs. The rains are relentless and they are not clearing up. The winds are also not dying down. Every now and again, there are "breather moments" only for the rain and winds to start again. Many of my other older and more established plants are getting hurt the most. Below, I share just a couple of photographs of the destruction of my plants. (I am one of the lucky few who have not sustained any real and lasting damage besides my plants. By no means am I or do I want to suggest that my plants' damages are comparable to bodily and emotional damages suffered by others.)
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
I am particularly saddened by the last photograph on the right (above) - the damage to the honey euryops bush (Euryops virgineus). In the previous storms, I lost half of the shrub, which has been growing for seven years now. Now, it seems like I lost the other half as well. It was almost three meters high, and every spring I looked forward to the thousands of little yellow flowers. Now, it seems like my garden will have a little less colour coming spring...
Alas, life gives and takes.
I can only hope that the other plants will survive the coming winds of the weekend... I hope that the weather is looking better where you are at.
For now, happy gardening, and keep well.
All of the writings are my own unless stated otherwise or hyperlinked. All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.