On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 23:23:45 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote:

"Gus" writes:

"Dan Espen" wrote in message
...
"Gus" writes:

Tomorrow morning, I pull all the tomatoes no matter what size...
After putting out water, peanuts, vinegar on rags, chicken wire--
another half eaten tomato on the deck rail this evening.

Netting.

Go to hardware store, buy deer netting.
Get stakes or some other material to build frame around plants.S
Frame must have door.
Staple netting to frame.

Netting must go to ground and cover sides and top.

There are other material than deer netting
like chicken wire. You need a physical barrier,
not a diversion.


I was going to do that a couple years ago, and by the time I was done
had spent $60 at Lowes. Couple days later, I returned everything. I
love tomatoes but I'm on a tight budget and decided garden ones aren't
$60+ better than grocery ones.

Makes sense to me.

I garden to create a place I like to be.

True, home vegetable gardening is a hobby... the definition of a hobby
is something one does for enjoyment but costs money, once it shows a
profit it's called a business... no way a home vegetable garden saves
money. That said I assumed the poster's garden was properly fenced
(only a fool doesn't fence a vegetable garden), then placing more
appropriate food the critters prefer at a distance will keep them from
finding ways past the fencing (no fencing is 100% critter proof). I've
been feeding birds in winter forever but now I feed them all year as
birds are the worst maurauders of vegetable gardens. If someone is
concerned with cost they need to quit growing veggies and buy them...
in season farm stands sell home growns... farm stands sell far better
produce than farmer's markets and at far lower prices. Farm stands
sell what they grow and pay no rent... farmer's markets mainly sell
the very same produce one buys at the stupidmarket but at higher
prices, they have to pay rent for their booth, and they need to make a
profit for their efforts. Conversely many farm stands at the side of
the road in front of private homes sell the overage from home gardens,
they sell for cheap rather than composting... I had a farm stand for
two seasons but I found it easier and more beneficial to just trade my
extra produce with neighbors who also did vegetable gardening... every
gardener grows enough different crops to benefit from trading. My
next door neighbor grows a lot of onions, garlic and potatoes... this
year I will have a glut of melons, winter squash, and cabbage... by
trading we both benefit. We don't actually do any formal trading, we
simply leave bagsful at each other's back door. I already left my
neighbor a dozen yellow crookneck zucchini. And soon I will have more
kirbys than I can possibly use, I already ate six yesterday... very
soon I'll pick a peck a day... I can only pickle so much before I run
out of space.