Getting close to tomato taste test party time.
I was speechless when I discovered two of my first ready-to-pick tomatoes had been ravaged by a squirrel. It’s too painful to show you the gruesome sight of half eaten black tomatoes, so they are in the compost pile now.
I am on the verge of Tomato Abundance. I know it is time to pick the tomatoes because this morning a squirrel ate the very tomatoes I 
intended to pick today. These big black tomatoes are Carbon tomatoes.
I admit to holding off for another day because usually, the first tomato that I pick every year should have waited one more day to achieve sun ripened perfection.
As soon as I started grousing to cousin Bob about these darned tomato eating squirrels, he shot back this email:
“SHOOT THE SQUIRRELS AND HAVE SQUIRREL AN DUMPLINGS.”
Just my bad luck that I traded in my squirrel gun for an elephant gun this week at Bass Pro in Springfield. (Bass Pro really does have elephant guns – I’ve seen them. But they don’t take trade-ins) Admittedly, there is a very short safari season here in swamps of Southeast Missouri. I digress.
Tomato Stuffed Squirrel may even be a healthier dish. Well, for me, not the squirrel. The squirrels around here have a healthy vegetarian,organic diet. This diet keeps the squirrels fit enough to outrun me. I tried not to cuss a blue streak in the garden since the tomatoes are already blushing.
Carbon tomato won a taste test of 10 heirloom tomato varieties at Cornell Research Farm. Black/Purple tomatoes are becoming more popular for the home gardener and at the farmers market. Every year I try a different black variety. The Carbon tomato is out producing last years Cherokee Purple in quantity and size of fruit.
This is one of the heirloom tomato plants from Abundant Acres. Since they grow more than 325 heirloom plant varieties, I’m writing to them requesting information on squirrel resistant tomatoes.
I want to tell you about one of the standouts in the front garden. Frankly Scarlet from All American Daylilies. A day lily that is not to be ignored, with 4″ diameters and sun-fast red blooms standing tall above the dark green foliage.
Being a day lily enthusiast, I have quite a collection. Even though the blooms only last a day, the plants produce several blooms, lasting for weeks. With so many varieties blooming at different times, there is a day lily of some type blooming in the front garden all summer long.
Day lilies require little care once established, but demand attention for their brilliant fade resistant colors. This Frankly Scarlet gets a little late afternoon shade. And, who can’t appreciate a bit of shade during the heat of Missouri summers?
Patsy Bell Hobson is a freelance writer based in Missouri. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. 