Friday, August 24, 2018

Midnight Raiders


          The previous owners of our condo were an older Italian couple.
I’ve seen evidence of the husband’s love of gardening in the variety of plants I’m still trying to identify in the flower beds out back. In some cases, he was a bit too enthusiastic. At the edge of our woods I’ve seen bee balm, lilies, rhododendrons, and hydrangeas that are now caught in the clutches of Virginia creeper and other invasive growth, which is a shame because I have no intention of culling the woods’ borders.

          From neighbor accounts, he also had a large number of tomato plants in the planting bed next to the house. So when we moved in, I squeezed in two or tomato plants of my own between the astilbe and black-eyed susans I brought from our previous home.

          I understand now why he planted as many tomatoes as he did. It was purely defensive.


          Every time – every time! – I go out to check the progress of the current tomato ripening on the vine, this is what I find.

10 comments:

  1. Sigh.
    Any idea about the greedy culprit?

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  2. We did smell a skunk last night, and I've been told we have rabbits here.
    There is also a huge number of squirrels in our back yard, but the tree back there is dropping some kind of nuts that have the squirrels busy all day long.

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  3. I don't have trouble with critters. it's the stink bugs that ruined all my tomatoes this year.

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  4. Jefferson
    , one of his ilk had an excellent recipe for Crow, cooked a varieties of ways. Check them out.

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  5. That would make me furious! But what can you do?? :-(

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  6. Little bastids, all those big four leggers! Not just skunks. Woodchucks. Groundhogs. Then, birds. And those caterpillars.

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  7. What could possibly be eating a ripening tomato to that extent? You may need to set up a video cam to catch the culprit in action.

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  8. I am not a veggie grower. One time when we grew tomatoes we waited and waited for that perfect ripening. And you know what happened. We also grew corn that year, and the squirrels took a bite out of every single cob.

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  9. We have a fence around our garden and no groundhogs this year. We also plant more tomatoes than needed.

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  10. racoons not only destroy what they don't eat, they don't eat it, either. As you say, big bites. I gave up on corn because the coons trashed it. not worth the effort.

    My guess what might be eating your tomatoes would be either racoons, who have terrible manners, or squirrels. I always grow mine up off the ground, in a heavy duty metal cage. Keeps them clean, and not every animal wants to put that much effort into getting them.
    Skunks are good. Really. As long as I keep the grass mowed around the garden they come at night and dig up (very neatly, I might add) all the japanese beetle grubs. They LOVE those things. The little holes look like small depressions in the ground, as if someone had dropped marbles.

    Probably your best bet is a video cam. If nothing else, you can enjoy the wildlife show.

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