The Results Are In

fat juicy tomatoes

And the verdict is…unqualified success! That’s right. The red Christmas ornaments worked fabulously at keeping away all comers. We saw zero loss of tomatoes to birds this year and, from what I could tell, no loss to anything with teeth. Well except for the dog. She would occasionally meet me at the back door with a tomato pursed in her lips. If we didn’t have a harvest that hugely exceeded 70 POUNDS (from three tomato plants) I would have been upset. As it was, I did not begrudge her.

So after we ate our fill of tomato sandwiches, tomato salad, and every sort of dish for every possible course that highlighted fresh, backyard-grown love apples, we pressure canned the rest into 24 jars of preserved sunshine waiting to cheer us up mid-winter when we can’t stand to see another winter squash or Brussels sprout.

We did learn that the sun bleaches all the color off the glass ornaments, so we’ll have to buy new ones for next season. As tempted as I am to do it now, I’m preeettty confident that Walgreen’s will have approximately 80 jillion boxes left over for 99 cents each right around December 26.

So there you have it. Turns out this crazy home-remedy is the real deal. Now I wonder if green balls will work for Green Zebras, yellows for Yellow Perfections, purples for Cherokee Purples…

8 Comments to “The Results Are In”

  1. Amerloc 10 November 2008 at 9:39 pm #

    Delighted to know it worked so well for you; will keep the technique in mind for this home place. I suspect it’ll work even with heirloom ‘maters, which is a plus.

  2. brit 10 November 2008 at 10:40 pm #

    wait, maybe there should be a seque or something or a link to the post so I know what the heck is going on and can be as brilliant as you…..

  3. modcottage 10 November 2008 at 11:30 pm #

    good point you have there brit…link now in place

  4. helen 11 November 2008 at 7:20 am #

    OMG- those look amazing! This year I planted some heirloom tomatoes because my mom gave me a little planting kit she got as a gift. The plant grew like weeds and I was so proud when it actually started producing:-)

    Next year I want to grow tomatoes like YOURS….and then can jars and jars of them for all the tomato recipes we love!

  5. Tina 11 November 2008 at 8:58 am #

    Glad it worked! And glad to see you back!

  6. alison 12 November 2008 at 1:29 pm #

    Glad to see you back, I’ve missed your posts

  7. ann kleen 22 November 2008 at 11:54 am #

    We tried CDs in our garden. They spin and glitter in the sun but our birds ignored them completely. By the end of the season the silver fell off but they are easy to replace.

  8. Jessi 11 December 2008 at 9:48 pm #

    That’s such a great solution! I’ll have to suggest it to my mom next summer (and stock up on ornaments in the meantime).