Gardendaze

Last year, I didn’t grow any tomatoes–or any vegetables–outdoors. I had gotten my nifty new indoor hydroponic system and I grew everything in that.

This year I thought I would try a plant or two outside to see what might happen. Well, you can see by the broken stem on this plant what’s happening. Just after I took this photo, I picked these yellow tomatoes–they’re not ripe; I will have to ripen them on my windowsill, but better to ripen them there than to lose them altogether. These are actually supposed to be red cherry tomatoes.

When I first saw these plants bent down, I thought it might be wind–or the brief, heavy downpour–that we had–doing the damage. But after I looked more closely, I realized that neither meteorological condition would also cause the existing tomatoes to disappear!

That was when I decided that I had better start harvesting tomatoes showing any hint of color at all. Sigh.

And honestly, I don’t blame whatever critter is doing this–probably the chipmunks. There’s been so little rain. Even a green tomato must taste pretty darn good as a source of moisture.

But honestly, growing plants outside it really is always something. If it isn’t a critter of some sort, it is weather damage. That’s just to be expected. You can’t raise plants in a bubble–unless you are growing them hydroponically.

So I will continue to raise my veggies inside and just enjoy the outside garden for flowers and herbs. That way, everyone wins.