Steve’s Garden – Update

Steve’s tomato plants are really growing. The garden actually looks like a jungle. He says next year he’s not going to plant so many. He has several varieties and will decide at the end of the season which ones did the best.

We had such a cool, wet spring. Compared to last year, the garden and plants in the yard are almost a month behind. We’ve only had two ripe tomatoes. But we are losing fruit every day - we’ve found that squirrels are big tomato fans. They have been climbing the fence, grabbing up tomatoes, climbing back out and eating them! They look like they have green tennis balls in their mouths! It is comical to watch, but maddening. Steve got his BB gun out to try to discourage the little varmints, but so far, it hasn’t deterred them! We’ve tried 'Shake Away', that didn’t work. Also we put out bowls of water, because I’d read that the squirrels were actually thirsty and were stealing the tomatoes for the juice. But they haven’t touched the water.

How tall do you think this plant is? Can you guess the type? It is a cherry tomato!!

Close-up of the fruit…

We put banana peels in the holes before we planted. Wonder if that is what has made them so tall? Steve waters them every so often with compost tea, and I’m sure that has helped as well. The garden kinda reminds me of…