protective posturing

On Thursday night, I noticed that some of my cherry toms, due to be picked, were gone. And the plant looked like it had been slightly moved. Silently, I accused my upstairs neighbors of theft.

But on Friday night, went out to water the plants and I caught the culprit red-handed or red-mouthed, as it were: a squirrel, running away, its mouth stuffed with a ripe red cherry tomato.

Queue a trip to the hardware store for fortifying measures. Saturday morning, amid 90% humidity, Richard and I surround the plants with layers of netting, supported by two-inch-think stakes. I add bricks to hold down the new protective layers should the fleabag creatures decide to re-attack, using some sort of burrowing method. Sweat-laden, we retreat indoors to monitor the situation.

So far, the verminous thieves have kept away. OK, so maybe that’s because there’s no fruit ripe for the taking, but I prefer to believe that the defenses are holding!