Hello and welcome (back) to the Planet Forward blog and to the latest entry in my virtual organic gardening journal on this fine Friday here in the Greater Toronto Area. My garden is once again beating the odds, and it has nothing to do with my previous entry on zucchini flower production.

Beautiful staked tomato image courtesy of urbanfarmonline.com

You see, this has been a long, hot and dry summer here but recently we’ve had a number of thunderstorms. The rain and wetness has kept me out of the garden while weeds have flourished, tomatoes have ripened, and even lettuce has grown. When there was a break in the rain, and the ground was dry enough to spend some time with my plants, I went to work. As I approached the garden I knew something was off. The wooden stake that supports one of my cherry tomato plants—I have two—was leaning on a forty-five degree angle. This is something that happens after particularly strong storms – the tomato stakes can lean due to the soft ground, pelting rain, and the burdening weight of the plant itself. On closer inspection I realized it was only half of the sake that was on a forty-five degree angle and the rest of it was stable and sound. I reached out to touch the piece of wood and it fell off into my hand—I hadn’t even applied any pressure. The cut in the wood was clean, but oddly shaped too —somewhere between a “U” shape and a curve. I had to do something fast as not only had part of this plant been tied to wood that was leaning on an angle, but now it had nothing for support.

I first thought to change the stake, but it was too close to the plant to be removed safely. My next option was to put another stake in behind the original so the tomato plant would be tied to both. That was also a no-go as there was not ample room for the second stake. My last resort was to tie another stake to the original, thus lengthening and strengthening it. I was skeptical about this working but after using multiple pieces of twine, the stakes were attached and sturdy. I tied the tomato plant in place and order was restored to the garden. But the question remained, what caused this piece of wood to randomly crack in such an odd and peculiar?

After some deliberation, the only reasonable explanation I came up with was that it had to have been struck by lightning and it cracked on impact. There really is no other explanation. I’ve seen other tomato stakes crack but this was different. The break was clean but the piece stayed in place for the most part until I gently put my hand on it. It’s definitely a new one for me. It goes to show you that there are always new (and bizarre) things springing up in your garden to keep you on your toes. Luckily no plants were harmed. We’ll have to see how the new MacGyver’d stake holds up but so far so good. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

As always happy gardening and please remember to support your local (organic) farmers.