Maybe the squirrels are thirsty, rather than hungry?

Yep, I think that is the case too. Make sure there's fresh water available for
the squirrels and I bet they'll leave the tomatoes alone.

Holly

wrote:

Not sure how much is LOTs but i got about 15 or so far ..
http://display.homeunix.org/garden/tomatoes-july-b.jpg

Your tomato plants are MUCH bushier and healthier looking
than mine. "Lots" in my case is about 8-10 a day, on a
decent day, from about 10 plants, mostly Better Boy, but
also one Patio and one "Druzhba"--a Bulgarian I got at the
Farmer's Market in Raleigh, which is now entirely moribund.

As I said, though, while I'm getting a reasonable number of
'maters, they're pretty small this year.

Did you say you're new to gardening? IMO, there is nothing
on earth that tastes better than homegrown tomatos, still
warm from the sun and perfectly ripe. Other people start
thinking of love, or of baseball, when spring approaches;
I start thinking of how soon I can get some tomatos in the
ground. :-)


_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD kuzen001 at acpub .duke .edu
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

"Bluebee Sky" wrote in message
...
Looks like I am not alone!even though I don't wish it this way!

I wait for my tomoatoes to become solid red, only to find the next day
that squirrel has had her share. So far I have two ripe tomatoes and
both were half eaten! And they also love to nibble on the neighboring
green ones!!


When I was a child my Grandfather and Uncle had a tomato farm. I was taught
that you could pick green tomatoes as soon as you could see a pink star on
the bottom. Those will continue to ripen. If you pick green tomatoes
without a star you might as well make fried green tomatoes as those won't
ripen.

My hubby was waiting for his tomatoes to get red before picking them but he
wasn't getting any that way. Something was eating all of them before they
got red. Then I told him you can pick them when they are still green if the
pink star is on the bottom. He started doing that and we have had tons this
year.

I've made lot's of pasta sauce, salsa, tomato dumplings, of course good old
"sliced maters". Yum. Just don't have much kitchen counter space these days
but that's OK.

--
Sandie
- Don't forget to take the cats out.

Sandie Hudson wrote:
that you could pick green tomatoes as soon as you could see a pink star on
the bottom. Those will continue to ripen. If you pick green tomatoes

I've had trouble with birds getting to my tomatos, if I left
them too long, and found the same thing, Sandie--once they're
clearly changing color on the bottom, it's OK to bring them
in. I'm not having any trouble with birds eating mine, this
year--don't know what the difference is, but I'm leaving some
on the vines until they're ready to eat, and the birds are
leaving them alone.

I've made lot's of pasta sauce, salsa, tomato dumplings, of course good old
"sliced maters". Yum. Just don't have much kitchen counter space these days

Ummm. Homemade pasta sauce. Salsa. drool Another of my
favorites is gazpacho with fresh 'maters from the garden--
just incredible.

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD kuzen001 at acpub .duke .edu
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

You know I love my animals,(veg head) but if someone wants to borrow my
boxer girl, last week she caught a crow in my garden, and when I say caught
it, she ripped its wings off and batted it around like a soccer ball.
EWWWW

But, the birds do not go near the garden.


wrote in message
. ..
In article , Kathie wrote:

Help! The little varmits are eating their way to tomatoe heaven through
pepper spray, fox urine, and every other thing I've tried...So far, I've
spent $60 and not eaten one single tomato!! Any suggestions???


Pellet gun.


--
Kathie

Kat ~=^..^=~
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk



--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

spam@www.spam.com is a garbage address.

"Pauline Leveille" wrote in message
...
We have a birdbath on the porch and they still ate my 'maters!
Ate them when they were totally green, so I didn't even have
a chance to wait for a pink star like Sandie mentioned.

Sigh.......

Pauline

Look closely at the bottom of your green tomato. The rest of it still looks
green when that faint pink star first starts appearing. The star I am
talking about looks kinda like the startburst pattern that you see around
lights in the rain, etc. At first it looks like a different color of green -
leave it till it the star starts to look pink.

Good luck!

--
Sandie
- Don't forget to take the cats out.

"BONEUNIT" wrote in message
...
Maybe the squirrels are thirsty, rather than hungry?

Yep, I think that is the case too. Make sure there's fresh water
available for
the squirrels and I bet they'll leave the tomatoes alone.

Holly

We have a birdbath on the porch and they still ate my 'maters!
Ate them when they were totally green, so I didn't even have
a chance to wait for a pink star like Sandie mentioned.

Sigh.......

Pauline

"Sandie Hudson" wrote in message
...
"Pauline Leveille" wrote in message
...
We have a birdbath on the porch and they still ate my 'maters!
Ate them when they were totally green, so I didn't even have
a chance to wait for a pink star like Sandie mentioned.

Sigh.......

Pauline

Look closely at the bottom of your green tomato. The rest of it still
looks
green when that faint pink star first starts appearing. The star I am
talking about looks kinda like the startburst pattern that you see around
lights in the rain, etc. At first it looks like a different color of
green -
leave it till it the star starts to look pink.

Good luck!

--
Sandie
- Don't forget to take the cats out.



I'll do that, next season, when I do this over again, the
squirrels took them all..........

Pauline