I am saddened to report that the two 2 inch green tomatoes I have been checking on every day have just disappeared. I assume it is due to furry rodents called squirrels.
Usually they wait till there is some red blush. Guess they are hungry buggers this year. They got the 2cnd batch of strawberries last week. sigh
Usually they wait till there is some red blush.
I do pretty good at staying ahead of the birds and squirrels. I've been picking loads of cherry tomatoes, started picking Merceds and a hugely proflific mystery tomato which simply volunteered itself.
Last Spring I learned you can't trust your eyes. Squirrels can smell when a tomato is good enough to eat. For the first time, I planted two Aunt Ruby German Green tomato plants which produced a fair number of large tomatoes. The squirrels ate half of each tomato on the vine. I couldn't tell when the fruit ripened. But the squirrels could! They passed over the reds in favor of the greens!
Planted two more this Spring. They've produced fruit and you can bet I'm checking them every day for the slightest color change. Don't want to share them with no darn squirrels.
A couple of years back, I caught birds pecking at my tomatoes. I had no idea that they would do that until then.
A lady at church told me to set out a couple of pans of water near the area, that the birds were probably thirsty. I did it and it seemed to help.
We had some problems with squirrels and rabbits until a stray cat took up residence under a shed and we have seen fewer of the nuisance animals since. I have ambivalent feelings about cats but so far I've not caught any bothering the garden, they are also helpful with any snake problem as mentioned earlier.