It is funny how things work. The other evening, I was telling Mark that the tomatoes were doing well and I was going to save several large ones for him. He works away from home and misses so many things from the garden so I thought it would be a nice surprise. His response was "Thanks! That will be great as long as some baboon does not come along and eat a bite out of each one." We both laughed at the idea of a baboon making its way from the other side of the world just to grab a bite of my garden tomatoes. Still...that did bother me a bit thinking that the squirrels or coons might be likely to raid the garden some evening.
The next morning, I was surprised...yet a bit heartbroken...to find that something did, indeed, take a bite out of one of the nice sized tomatoes. That "garden baboon" struck during the night! Not really a "literal" baboon...more like a grasshopper. One of the huge Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers had spent the night on a tomato and munched a good bit of it. Ugh! I HATE THESE GRASSHOPPERS! The lubber grasshoppers have been outrageously bad this year. The huge monsters are everywhere and are eating my gardens to bare stalks. Obviously, they are not happy just eating leaves and have taken a liking to the fruits.
Not much can be done about these critters, though. Nary a predator will tackle them as they are a bit toxic and sprays (if I did use them in the garden) are just about useless. The only option is to smash them one by one and when there are thousands about, that is a nigh on impossible task. Hopefully, they will leave a couple of tomatoes for Mark. I shall have to be doubly watchful.
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