I saw a tip in a magazine this week (I don’t grow Tomatoes) it said hang a couple of Bananas by the side of your Tomatoes and they ripen quicker…
LOL, with my luck, suey, the damn squirrels would eat the bananas! And come back later for the tomatoes…:roll:
I actually like squirrels-we have a huge mature walnut tree in the garden and they are funny to watch. There are only so many walnuts I can eat so don`t mind sharing
Squirrels! They dig up and eat your bulbs as fast as you plant them, eat the buds off croci, dig up newly set plants, bury acorns in your potted plants, destroy bird feeders attempting to get the seed, steal tomatoes, of which there are NOT enough to share, and chew holes in your soffit boards so they can nest in the porch roof … quite expensive to repair, I might add. A pox on them!!
Err . . . so I assume you don’t like them DM. 
The weather’s a lot cooler the last 4 days . . during the warm spell last week I was pouring 6 gallons of water into the toms every day . . . it’s the last time I grow courgettes too . . they’re like triffids . . I love eating them but they’re taking over the greenhouse they’re so big.
I stopped growing them a long time ago … they took over every bit of my limited gardening space.
How do the tomatoes do it?
How do they hide their side shoots, even though you look at them from different angles, run your eyes up the stem from ground to tip, all the time searching for a renegade ‘outlaw’?
Yet there always seems to be one still able to hide till it gets pencil-thick
How do the tomatoes do it?
Ah now that be a secret twixt the tomato and us addicts-always trying to catch us out.
And some of the heritage types create two main stems over night.
Pinch out as many as you can but if one or two get away it`s no big deal.
First time I grew toms I left them all on, I wasn’t sure what I had to pinch, I had tomatoes by the thousands, well okay slightly exaggerated, they don’t seem to be doing to well this year. I’ve usually got a few formed by now but nothing yet.
This probably doesn’t belong in the tom thread, but here are the first chili peppers…
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d117/dandysmom/Non%20Cat/DSCN1474.jpg
Looking good.
Grief my fingers are still tingling,did some weeding before coming up here to play. Why do small stinging nettles hide so well?
I wear gloves - only because I try to keep my hands clean so patients aren’t put off. It also stops those stings
I really should get some latex or something like gloves-bog standard gardening gloves are fine for rough work but not for weeding amongst plants
Yes, I cannot wear thick gardening gloves for weeding. I wear thin latex free gloves (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/100-NITRILE-DISPOSABLE-GLOVES-MEDIUM-/150453424247?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_ProtectiveGear_RL&hash=item2307b91077#ht_1158wt_911). You can buy latex ones on ebay (these black ones look menacing and may scare the weeds into submission) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLACK-Latex-Tattoo-Gloves-Powder-Free-Box-100-LARGE-/160352034235?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Medical_Lab_Equipment_Medical_Supplies_Disposables_ET&hash=item2555b9ddbb#ht_600wt_1137
I’m happy to say we don’t have stinging nettles, but we do have … poison ivy! I react very badly to it so wear those thin latex gloves around it too.
It’s like Hitchcocks “The Birds” here . . . the little beggars are pinching lumps outta my lovely toms . . . I just stapled netting on the open vent and door . . . wonder what they’ll do for breakfast tomorrow ?
One of mine is starting to color; I’ll put a mesh bag on it to fend off the birds and squirrel!
Bagged it this afternoon:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d117/dandysmom/Non%20Cat/DSCN1290.jpg
Oh dear . . . it’s not birds thieving the toms . . . it’s either mice or squirrels . . . another six fruits half eaten this morning . . . I shall have to post a Rottie on sentry duty in the greenhouse at nights . . . they could work it in shifts you know . . . .
On second thoughts the noise’ll get the neighbours up at the crack of dawn . . . any suggestions please. 
Borrow a cat? Leia would gladly take care of the mice 
She doesn’t do squirrels, however.
You probably have too many to bag in mesh…