Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Life is just a bowl of cherries, no, this time it's tomatoes

I've been trying to grow a nice bunch of tomato plants since I moved to this spot. I've had all sorts of critters to claim them; raccoons, squirrels, leaf cutter ants and bugs.
Look what I have this year!


A couple of years ago I had my husband enclose an 8' x 16' area. I cleaned out the grass, laid down newspapers and then started putting my grass cutter clippings (including the live oak leaves) over the newspapers.  Last year we did have tomatoes but they were attacked by all the animals listed above.

This year it is fenced and has chicken wire over the top of the tomatoes.  The tomatoes have since grown through it and are still flowering and producing.  We had one raccoon episode, but I put up bags holding Irish Spring soap in three areas around the little garden. I had been told it would keep away the deer.  It seems to have kept the deer and the raccoons away and we have hardly had any squirrels in the yard this year so I don't know if they are repelled by it.

Here is a picture of the tomato garden.


Do you see the bags holding the strong smelling soap?  I do have pepper plants in there, too, but they don't really show in this photo.  Next year maybe I can have some squash and green beans.

2 comments:

Herbie said...

Wow, your garden looks so good. I planted a bunch of tomatoes, but I'm sure that they will not be there when I get back. And I've also heard that Lifeboy soap will keep critters away.

Cindy Meredith said...

Good for you!!