In your zone you still have time to root some large cuttings from them and get a small second crop. When the first frost comes the green ones left on the vine (assuming you do something about the squirrels) can be wrapped in newspaper, placed in a cardboard box, and allowed to ripen.

Worth a try. ;)

Dave

Get some cheap bird food that has sunflower seeds in it and start an "easy for squirrels to get at" feeder. Even some corn cobs set onto large screws seems to work for me. And pizza crust (son works at a Lil Caesars) which we get a lot of is a treat for them. I have fed squirrels longer than I have had a garden and they seem to not bother my enlarged garden this year other than in the spring they dug up what I transplanted to see if I did it right.

deweymn, lol, so did you do it right? maybe not, cuz you had to do it all over. oh, that's so funny. but i do feel for you. both of you. my neighborhood doesn't have enough "mature" trees yet for any squirrels to live around here. i guess thats a good thing. --jenn

Or better yet...I bought 5 plastic owls...filled them with sand, and move them every day. The darn things look real, and I set them right in the beds. Haven't seen a squirrel or coon anywhere near my maters!!!!!

Yeah, I was hoping I wouldn't have to worry with it. I haven't for my last 2 gardens (at 2 different places, we have a bad habit of moving a lot looking for a change of scenery).

I'm happy I got to keep at least 2/3rd or so of the harvest.

Thanks for the advice. With such limited space I really shouldn't take things for granted if i really want my crop.