Sorry to hear about your tomato trouble. They are my favorite vegetable to grow, but the most troublesome. The one year I actually had a bounty (rather than my typical harvest of 10 - 20 tomatoes), a racoon found a way into the garden, and I estimate ate about 40 pounds of tomatoes over the course of a week or so. I made all sorts of pathetic makeshift fencing, finally found the solution in an electrified wire mounted along the top of the fence.

I planted the most seeds I have in years and ended up with only 4 plants.

Silvia, now you're just being mean. :( You are the tomato genie!

Sorry a bit late to this.

FWIW, I never was able to get Cherokee Purple to grow here in my area. It succumbed pretty quickly to what looked like yellows virus. Same disease susceptibility was true for many of the heirloom varieties I tried over the years. A couple of exceptions were Hillbilly, Great White & Black plum (which had uneven taste results).

And I've never had any luck with those greenhouse-grown starts sold at the nurseries and box stores either.

I learned to look for the VFFNTA+ hybrids when buying seeds. My go-to now is Tomande, which is very, very delicious, although the fruits do have a tough core. Root knot nematodes are very bad here, and Tomande seems impervious to them.

The thing about trying to grow veggies in a residential yard is you can never know what might be in the soil. Herbicides, pesticides, household chemicals, etc. may have left residues, but there's no way to tell.

I have 6 plants.... thought they were looking pretty good but then noticed something ate some of the leafs and side stems...... I spent a good half hour trying to find a horn worm or another worm.... couldn't find them on any of the plants.... I went ahead and sprayed them with Organcide and then started weeding and watering roses.....

Later while still weeding I heard this loud crash and thought one of the neighbors royal palm fronds had fell. I looked over that way and I guess a 4 foot iguana fell or jumped out of his tree.... It made it's way toward my tomato plants.

I chased after it with my hoe... those things are ugly.... but fast. I didn't even come close.... but my aim was good .... hit with the hoe, but it just bounced off of his ugly hide..... hope it doesn't come back.

I am going to ACE in the morning and get some Iguana Rid.... though it is probably a scam and doesn't really get rid of them.

Oh, Sharon, that is too funny! This is the first year I've had a problem with squirrels digging in my pots. There is one young male squirrel who is just ravaging my container plants, so I have to figure out ways to keep them where he can't get to them. He's not scared either, so somebody has been feeding him close and personal. I may have to get some pepper spray and just hit him one good time with it to keep him away. I hate to do it, but it doesn't do any lasting damage, and if I put cayenne pepper in all my pots, I'll get it on my hands and rub my eyes and then YIKES! Better his eyes burning than mine.

Speaking of squirrels..... I have a bird feeder that I put some black oil seed out to attract cardinals. I also bought hot oil to go on the the seed that is supposed to keep squirrels from eating the seed. HA. I added the oil.... squirrels came.... I got a large container of red pepper flakes and caynne pepper from Costco and added that to the already hot oiled seeds... Squirrels keep coming and eating.... my husband said that they are just eating it and probably like the taste.... just like me who likes hot wings... the hotter the better..... Though he also thinks the squirrels have flaming diarrehea..... but like the hot food.

Good luck keeping them away..... tell me if you find a good way. Thanks. Sharon

D, I am known for making nice tomato baskets to give away to friends. If you were living close....

Sharon, I feel sorry for you to have visiting iguanas, I am sure that I do not want to see them ever!

The squirrels in my area are only attracted to some fruit, they don't bother with any plant, seedlings or ripe tomatoes.

Picking tomatoes today and cucumbers, the nice surprise this season are the honey nut winter squash, very tasty and productive!

Yum! & what was your source for honey nut squash, please? I buy the organic ones @ Trader Joe's & they're sooooo good!

Carol, I only planted 2 seeds as a trial in my garden and I have been eating them daily. Next time I will plant more, they are very good!

Many thanks! Downloaded their catalog and they have some cool stuff!

Oh, Silvia, how I wish I was closer! But I have to just work with what I have for now, which seems to be Cherokee Purple, so I guess I'll plant two in containers and one in the ground and see what happens. I'm assured that the area of Mexico I'm moving to has lovely soil and grows wonderful crops. In fact, they have vast flower and fruit plant nurseries there, plus a lot of avocado orchards, so I should be in hog heaven. Not sure about tomatoes, but I'm surely going to smuggle some seeds in to see! LOL

D, having good soil is the most important thing to grow crops, also good weather. Soon I will have to change my calendar for growing crops because it is getting very hot...

When moving to another country where agriculture is big, the best bet is to buy daily fresh fruits and vegetables, you can usually get the morning harvests. Eating the local specials at the market is not only fresh but delicious and cheap.

When I traveled anywhere, my first stop is the fresh food market, I find treasures there, fresh veggies, fresh bread, artisan cheeses, and more.

Silvia, I intend to do just that. I love how in Mexico in the markets you can buy a few stalks of celery or a few leaves of this or that. The produce in the local markets are all local food. You eat what's in season unless you want to go to a big grocery store and pay outrageous prices. Puebla has a HUGE market with everything from herbs to meats. The town I want to move to has a wonderful herb and spice shop with everything you could imagine, since Mexicans use a lot of medicinal herbs. I get excited every time I think about living there.