Dodging hail & garden pictures.

We went for a run last evening after it cooled down, and the storm that was rolling in had shifted south. The run was an easy relaxing run until the storm blew back North and we realized it was time to pick up the pace. We could see the city from our trail and we stopped in awe as the sound of the storm was getting to us miles away. I can only describe the sound as a jet engine on an airplane, or perhaps an M1 Abrams at idle... and we were really 10+ miles away from it.
We could tell it was shifting back towards us and luckily it was the downhill portion so I jumped in the lead and ran as hard as I could at the fastest pace I could sustain for a couple of miles until we would be safe under tall trees or reach the house if we got lucky. Small scrub oak works for protection but it's better to not lay on the ground if you can help it. Plan your route based on possible weather you see heading in. Colorado Springs is a high desert environment on the mountain edges, protection from bad weather is sometimes hard to find. Sort of like running at treeline.

It's cute to see hail in June, sometimes it's the only moisture we get, little tiny pieces of ice just bouncing around you while you run on a nice trail. It's not cute when it's like this;

Either I have a tiny thumb, or those are huge. One hit the top of my shoe and it stung like a bee, but somehow we avoided getting knocked out and made it home. After this picture I covered all of the plants with trash bags until the hail stopped. We didn't much, but hail this big does a lot of damage to plants (and anything else it hits). Had I not been home it's still early enough to start over and have a late harvest but I would have upset since the plants are doing great right now.

Here are some pictures from this morning right after dawn, everything looked normal, as good as I can make it with my limited gardening knowledge from being a kid. Some of the tomato plants are thriving, some are looking sad but still have fruit. When you keep everything the same for each plant, one can only shrug on why some thrive vs. just survive. Sort of like my brother compared to me.

Blueberries. 2 small bushes. Will plant more if they do well this year.

Strawberries, someone else keeps eating them all before me.

Clematis. It's better than plan ivy but takes forever to spread.

One of 4 tomato plants. They are still budding out all over.

Rose bush transplanted 12 years ago from the in-laws old house.

Rose bush transplanted from a neighbor last year, off the front porch.

Sweet peppers (red) starting to get big.

Cherry tomato plant, about 100 of them waiting to ripen.

My peppers are jammed together, not like the ones at the store looking perfect. I don't have the luxury of volume, so I let them grow into each other naturally if they desire. I turn the pots every day so the sun gets spread around the plant. I like the pot method vs. in ground, I've yet to have an in ground ones act as a perennial so I stick to the pots. I'm debating putting a few more in the ground and letting them grow for a late harvest. We just don't eat that many.