Greg,

Even the imbeciles can figure out how to eat a tomato. I ws
surprised that they got all the red grape tomatoes because they were
pretty high, at least 4 feet.

Alan

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:23:53 -0500, "Gregory Morrow"
> wrote:

>
>
>Nancy2 wrote:
>
>On Aug 26, 4:08 pm, Alan > wrote:
>> I always had a problem with shade. Big trees blocked the sun here on
>> Long Island. I finally used a great spot in the backyard, which my
>> wife was never thrilled with, better on the side of the house. Well,
>> I planted lots of tomato plants and they grew like crazy. They grew
>> much faster than the plants on the side of the house and they were
>> getting big very fast. The grape tomatoes turned red first. There
>> were so many orange to red ones but I decided to wait a few more days
>> till they were a rich red.
>>
>> So, I went outside one morning and all the red tomatoes were gone. I
>> am talking about red grape tomatoes that were high up. It got worse
>> from there and every good tomato, except the cherries were either gone
>> or half eaten. I planted a lot of tomatoes in a small area so the
>> animals must have climbed from one plant to another.
>>
>> It would have been a glorious yield but we started to see mice and
>> rats hanging around and that was it. We set traps but word must have
>> gotten out that the best restaurant in town was open for business.
>>
>> The gardeners were here and I had them remove every plant, tomatoes,
>> cucumbers, zucchini, white eggplant and one very hot pepper plant. I
>> wouldn't touch the tomatoes in the sun in the back of the house
>> because those were disgusting but the plants on the side of the house
>> had some healthy looking green tomatoes so I pulled them off, two
>> large grocery bags filled, and now there is nothing but the herbs
>> left. The zucchini didn't grow at all but we had about 10 nice white
>> eggplants that the animals never got to.
>>
>> I even had the gardeners take away the tomato cages and the wooden
>> stakes. It just got too good and they all came.
>>
>> I still love fresh chives, basil, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
>> use them all the time. So that will be nice but for all the
>> aggravation, and the work, I'll buy tomatoes at the farm stands and I
>> am sure I'll save lots of money too, not to mention me knees which
>> were not great after moving 5 yards of composted top soil into the
>> back yard.
>>
>> I though perhaps there was a way to grow the tomatoes vertically
>> upside down but no matter what the setup, if I am the only one in the
>> neighborhood doing it, they don't stand a chance. I can see the
>> chipmunks playing Tarzan jumping for the vines and knocking down all
>> the tomatoes as they slide down the plants.
>>
>> Alan
>
>Coulda been raccoons. They are really smart and very easily can out-
>calculate the humans. When we lived on a farm, they would - swear to
>God! - peel back the husk on the sweet corn to see how ripe the ear
>was. The mother would knock one cornstalk over the electric fence (a
>low one, but still), short it out, and lead her whole family across.
>You've got to have a good, sturdy fence in order to keep the critters
>out.
>------------------
>
>GM replies:
>
>Yup, in the mid - 60's new strains of super - sweet corn appeared (Illini
>Super Sweet, etc...) and so folks started growing a lot of this corn in our
>western Illinois area. My dad and his friends planted a lot of these tasty
>new hybrids and the raccoons got into the act, too...we tried everything,
>e.g. electric fences, lights, noisemakers, dogs, the bit. Those masked
>bandits were absolutely undeterred...
>
>It actually got to be pretty comical...coulda been a plot of _Green
>Acres_...