I'll try it all

I've gone through the list. And have tried most of them.

Predator urine. Nada

Marigolds. Nada. Not even three foot tall Marigolds.

Cayenne Pepper. Nada.

Nothing will stop the squirrels from destroying my tomato plants. They have picked all but one of my green fruit. That's eight or nine in the last week. Each time they pick, they break a limb or branch of whichever plant they set out on. They never eat the fruit. One bite and drop it.

The internet says to do the things I already did. So today.. I just started buying things. Trying shit.

Like maybe this plant stand will help?

Or this hawk.... shut up....

Or this peace offering fresh water dish... 

(side note: I read somewhere that they may be munching juicy tomatoes for the water content)

Or maybe this chime hidden behind the branches will startle them...

I don't even fucking know.

Lost

I feel defeated. I feel outsmarted, outwitted and out of ideas. I feel like I don't know what I can do next, or what will help, or how to even try. It's so much more than a lost tomato. Or a broken tomato branch. Or a bunch of dug up carrots. It's failure. It's failure to know what to do to protect these things I grew with my very own hands. It's failure because I should have done it better from the start. It's heartbreak. It's losing things I care about.

But you probably don't understand that.

Radish Round Two

I'm trying the radishes again for a fall crop. Cross your fingers!

And a pot of carrots that I still need to thin out!

Today's tomato

After a sprinkle of cayenne pepper last night, this is how one of my tomatoes looked today...

How did that mouthful of pepper taste Mr. Squirrel? 

Bad enough that you didn't want to pull it down?

That's progress at least. 

Declaring War

... is not something I like to do. But today I am officially declaring war on the squirrels!!! 

The past three days I have lost half of my green tomatoes and a whole limb of one of my plants.

They are not scared of my screaming and shooing. They are not deterred by the fox urine I have been sprinkling around the perimeter of the garden. It's as if they don't even notice the 3' tall marigolds that surround my plants. 

I'm declaring war.

My first move is cayenne pepper. 

My second move is pulling the one tomato in a pot out into the open. Maybe without the help of the garage wall to shimmy up, their little arms won't reach. 

I'm not sure what my next moves will be. But it's on.

Pollination Day

Our female flower finally opened up, so I took the opportunity to pollinate it myself. I stuck a Q-Tip in the neighboring male flower and then swooshed the lifted pollen deep inside the female flower. I sure hope I got this little lady pregnant.