it was about this time last year, that james and i got excited about growing vegetables in our garden. it was our first summer in our house, and we debated which lettuces to seed, where to draw the line on our long herb list, salivated over the thought of all the heirloom tomatoes we would harvest, even planted some hanging strawberries.
things were growing well for a few weeks before the squirrels and racoons ate everything. they ate herbs. they took a bite out of a zucchini, left it for dead, and moved on to the next. they left one tomato on the vine, one lonely roma, and it started to ripen. we didn’t bother to bet on it, we knew they would get to it. but then it ripened to a pale red, almost to the point that we could break it off, bring it inside to safety and let it continue to ripen in the kitchen. one more day, we figured. we came home the next day, and the tomato was missing from the backyard. one of those rogues got to it, but this time, they left the half-eaten fruit on the front doorstep. that’s right. they took a bite, and brought it around to the front of the house. i guess to make extra sure we saw it–to drive home the message that they won the war. that they ran things. but would we run…?
yeah. all the way to scarborough, in fact. last weekend we planted 20 tomato plants and two kale seedlings in my parents’ sun-streaked, bountiful garden. we’re picking up some zucchini and a few other seedlings tomorrow to round it out. however, things seem very still in our own backyard, so james took one little tomato plant back there, just in case. mmm….i’m not holding out any hope. i’ll be in scarborough sprinkling salt on a slice of black prince heirloom tomato. he can stay here and stand guard.
