Hail No!

Well, friends, there were a number of options for post-title this time. Among them,"August Anxieties," "The Garden in Decline," and "Wanted: High-Paying Job". But I went with the concept that has made the greatest impact for me, literally.
Two weekends in a row now, the gardens have suffered through hail events. This saturday's was the worst: twenty minutes of pea- and pebble-sized ice balls, pummelling down and hastened by hurricane-strength gusts of wind. The result was holes in the foliage of everything from chard and beans to sunflowers and squash. Tomatoes that weren't under direct cover got dimpled and pocked, and most lettuce successions have sort of melted down. I could take pictures, but then why draw out the misery.....