Oh NO....XOXOXOX.

Maybe they will come back? Do post pictures so we can do a proper diagnosis of what it could be.

You can start seeds again or buy some from nursery....?

Oh crud! I don't even know if I'll bother with veggies this year, since we have those dang ninja squirrels. I don't have anything helpful to say -- just offering sympathy!

I AM going to try to grow a couple of tomatoes. Despite my insistence that never again would I waste my money or my time.... I am going to try to rig up a little enclosure made of hardware cloth. I'll have to let you know if or how it works.

Good luck on finding your garden vandals!

Thank you both for the sympathy.

Tjani, I'll post pics as soon as my husband shows me how (I'm somewhat computer challenged), but a friend suggested the culprits may be birds. I have seen birds in the garden area which is off limits to my dogs. The dogs wouldn't be able to chase them away from there.

Bagsmom, Hope springs eternal! Good luck with the hardware cloth enclosure. I'm thinking that maybe I should buy bird netting and place it over the veggies until they grow larger.

Is it possible that slugs ate them? Slugs got a lot of my plants last year, and I went to war. I put containers of beer all over the place and murdered hundreds of the evil creatures, and laughed with homicidal delight as I avenged the deaths of my plants.

I think the culprits are birds. We have quite a few nesting in our area. My husband bought stiff plastic hardware cloth and made tubes to place around the plants. The tubes are approximately 1 1/2 feet high and so far none of the plants have suffered additional damage.

My critters usually wait till all the work is done and the fruit is nice and ripe. They they bite a hole in each one so I have to toss them.

I need to get a dog or another hunter cat.