I made it a specific point to grow almost all of our tomato plants inside the pool enclosure this year…because I do not deal very well with cutworms/hornworms, etc. We have more than adequate deck space, why not container grow the plants and completely avoid 7/8 of the problems that plague tomato growers?
Well, something is chewing on the cream sausage tomato fruit.
(click for horrific largeness)
I’d give good money to know what is big enough to do this, yet small enough to fit through the tiny screen of the pool enclosure (or through the similarly small spaces under the screen doors), AND completely evade our notice.
Honestly, we suspected the cats until we found that hollowed out fruit. And who wouldn’t. They’re a completely untrustworthy bunch.
In other news, I received a box of goodies from Buried Treasures yesterday…which meant I had to haul myself (and the reluctant Boychild) out into the midday heat to completely divest the east side of the house of fountain grass.
I hate I didn’t take a before picture. Yes, I planted the fountain grass there on purpose, two each, on either side of the Hawaiian Tis. And it was quite pretty for the first year. Then the fountain grass did what the fountain grass does…and self-propagated itself all the way up and down the side of the house.
The good news it has very shallow root systems and is generally quite easy to just yank out. Watch those nasty fountain grass blade cuts though. Ow.
Now I have all those lovely tropical exotics planted (Heliconia rostrata, Maranta arundinacea ‘variegata’, Pancratium zelanicum, Gloriosa superba, Curcuma sparganifolia “Pink Pearl Improved”, Curcuma rhabdota “Candy Cane”, and Gaura lindheimeri “Siskiyou Pink”) and we’ll be properly bedding/mulching everything after we return from vacation in July.
It just never ends, does it? But I think that’s why we love it. “What shall I do/change in the garden today?” It’s a (relatively) inexpensive, stay-at-home adventure.