Thanks For The Help, But I'm Good

I decided not to plant a garden this year, but when I was buying my annuals one grape tomato plant jumped into the basket. I came home and put the small plant in a five-gallon bucket.  Now that the weather has heated up it's been growing nicely, and has a dozen small green fruits and many more flowers.

Originally I thought the plant was going to be a bush variety, but yesterday I noticed it was getting tall and gangly, which means it's an indeterminate type that will keep growing taller all season. I staked the stems, and briefly thought about removing the highest growing tips so the plant would bush out, but I was short on time.  This morning I noticed 'something' had done the topping for me!

Those stems used to be a lot longer

The damage was over three feet off the ground, but based on the nice clean cuts I suspected a rabbit. This isn't the first time Bugs has noshed on our plants, so I was ready. I pulled out a spray bottle of a natural garden pest control, which contains a lovely combination of putrescent egg solids, castor, garlic, and fish oils, and urea.  The mixture stinks to high heaven but does the trick.

I sprayed the mixture heavily to the leaves and stems. The smell will be undetectable to a human nose after several house, but the spray has an ingredient that allows it to stick to the plant surfaces.  That means that going forward, even if the smell doesn't deter the critter the taste will.

Five years ago today: Size Me Up!