I put out some bowls of water and we picked the tomatoes with any hint of a blush. We’ll see how it goes. We have some squash and cantaloupe plants we just planted and I’m wondering if they will meet the same fate. It’s a hard sell in this heat to imagine spending time in the garden installing the chicken wire, but I guess we will if we have to!
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I keep meaning to visit their store. Hopefully at some point this fall.
Wanted to share our grape arbor. 4 vines of Canadice grapes. Delicious fruit. Beautiful peaceful place to sit on a summer afternoon. And each year about 2 weeks before the grapes are ripe, the critters eat most of the crop. We live in the woods and between the birds, squirrels, raccoons and various insects we just don’t get any. They like to chew through the stem and drop the bunches to the ground. In years that we’ve bagged, they chew through those much like an infant feeder that you’d put a chunk of banana into. But every year I hope I get at least 25% of the crop. The fence is for deer that tear the leaves apart which grow through…
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The only year I had good tomatoes at my last house was from a bunch of Black Krims. I planted and transplanted the seeds WAY too late, I swear I did everything wrong, but they gave me these big, beautiful, cracked all to heck tomatoes, but the taste was incredible- the best I’ve ever had. Spicy, a little salty, intensely tomatoey, just enough sweet, they were a revelation. A couple of my work lunch buddies started growing them after tasting mine, and that for sure never happened before or after.
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Beautiful! I always wondered how practical it was to pick grapes off these tall trestles. Being short I have to really think about these things when I set up the growing areas. But that canopy alone is so beautiful!
Thanks! The atmosphere is heavenly! It’s hard for me to imagine that it’s only been about 8-10 yrs and when we bought the vines they were only maybe a foot tall and bare. We can pick almost everything that the squirrels leave us with a two step ladder.
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It looks awesome, or I think awe-inspiring! You sure do garden with intention!
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I can’t take credit. My husband built the pergola that they sit upon with this intention. I am very much an average gardener re flowers and edible crops meaning maybe half make it and half die 
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And that’s why we stopped using bags. It’s a lot of work to put them on and they’re completely useless. My understanding of grapes is that you can’t pick them under ripe because they won’t ripen any further. So we just deal with the critter loss to see if we can get any part of the harvest at all that is actually edible.
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That is my understanding as well. Fortunately they are good enough to eat, unfortunately they not as good as they could be.
As you can probably tell, I am not nearly as intentional as I should be with my fruit gardening, and am usually surprised when I get the five or ten bunches of grapes I get!
Every year I aspire to a real plan, and I am inspired by yours.
ETA That’s a lot of italics! 
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Here is our newly hot-wired Himrod grape vine. About 7 years ago we got a fantastic first harvest, but ever since - relatively nothing. Despite bagging, the critters (raccoons?) got it all. We used to have a nice little fence around them, until we realized the 'coons were just climbing the fence to get at them. They destroyed all the bags and bird-spikes we added. This year we took down all the fencing possible, and put spiked wire on all the trunks and trellises. We just today added the electric wire. We’ll see how it goes.
In the mean time, we planted a new vine inside one of our roofed berry cages. That one should be safe, but will take a few years to mature.
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Fierce!
Reminding me of *this* character, three years ago.
I saw a an opossum rushing in the direction of the grapes the other evening.And not of peep from our electronic cougar.
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Based on all your photos I would have to disagree with you. I am in awe of the number of different things you plant and monitor in one season. With many of them thriving and looking gorgeous. Give yourself credit!
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Good luck! Desperate times and all. We couldn’t do that because our grapes are immediately next to a large grove of maples and the critters just move between them.
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I love seeing how organized and passionate everyone is about their garden planning! The mix of practical tips and real-time seasonal updates makes this thread such a great resource. It’s inspiring to see how even small herb patches and neighborhood plant observations can play a big part in the rhythm of the garden. Looking forward to following everyone’s progress this year!
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As far as I can tell, that’s mostly a myth. My parents tried the water bowls and it didn’t help. The garden here is close to a creek, and easily-accessed by animals.
For 40 years, the raccoons and opossums didn’t bother tomatoes. Now, they’ve developed a taste for them; or, they may be so overpopulated, they’re short on food. Either way, they get trapped and removed. When the deer fence gets rebuilt, the plan is to surround the garden with electric fence, so the critters can’t climb in. Since the perimeter fence is over 500 feet, 152 meters, it’s a big project.
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I have a lot of water around in my garden for the birds and bunnies, and also because I like to catch the drips from my AC units as best as I can rather than dripping so close to the foundation of my house. The animals are definitely using those and the collected water. I still have critters eating my tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers. 
Clearly they have an affinity for the best flavor
I planted a few bush bean seeds in a little extra space at the edge of my garden but the soil is very compacted and they have not thrived.
