STATEN ISLAND, NY — For tomatoes, the usual farm-to-table process proved laborious this summer. When they ripened, neighborhood animals noticed — and tried them.
Small peck holes indicate bird damage. Large bites indicate larger animals that either knock tomatoes to the ground or eat them right off the vine. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
As soon as they turned red, there were dozens of half-eaten tomatoes lying all over my garden.
Holy Solanum lycopersicum!, I thought, “Who is turning off the light on my nightshade plants?”
Since I live in New York City, it took some serious deductions before I could catch the real culprits.
I’ve ruled out bears. Sure, there are foxes here, but no bears, as far as I know.
Regionally there are chipmunks, raccoons, marmots, turkey vultures, turkeys themselves, rabbits, rats, ospreys, opossums and skunks.
Yes, here on Staten Island it is a real Wild Kingdom, namely the Borough of Parks with a zoo and people who intentionally feed the wild animals.
But it’s the squirrels that have it. I’ve seen them. They’ve done it. They’ve eaten my tomatoes and had a party in my plants.
(Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)Stick shot
The only solution to the squirrel problem this late in the summer was to pick tomatoes when they were just starting to turn red and store them in a paper bag indoors to ripen on their own, out of sight and out of reach of the little furry criminals.
Here are some more ways you can act as a natural shield for your crops.
Fence them out.
In short, with little effort, you can stake out a garden to attach burlap or other artificial borders that surround the yard. If the border is too low, deer may also nibble on the goods.
Here you can see orange nasturtiums in full bloom.
Add spooky smells.
Many animals do not like the smell of onions – for example, leeks, garlic, chives, daffodils, bulbous plants in general, mint and geraniums. Catnip can be added to this list, but then you have another common problem – cats.
Have fun at the Irish Spring.
If you don’t like the scent of Irish Spring soap, you are not alone.
According to the Farmers’ Almanac, both squirrels and deer flee when the Irish spring arrives. However, I am hesitant to use this for fear of spring coming to the summer garden and the lawn foaming up after a rain shower.
So the moral of the story for humans is to stockpile the tomatoes before the squirrels get suspicious. And in this case, the early bird catches the worm – or at least gets a chance to make a salad.
Pamela Silvestri is food editor at Advance/SILive.com. You can reach her at [email protected].
