Garden 2015: WooHoo! Tomatoes & Spinach

This has definitely been the worst garden I've ever had. My green beans were torn apart by rodents, and I only harvested about 1.5 gallon bags of beans compared to probably 10 gallons in past years. We set traps out and caught 3 RATS! I never thought I'd have rats in the garden. I'm guessing they must've gotten relocated during our 2 week rain spell when the storm sewers were overflowing. The traps haven't been set off in nearly a week, so I'm hopeful they're all gone.

Something, probably a raccoon, started to eat my tomatoes. I was hesitant to hook up my electric fence because I didn't want my new dog to get zapped. I know it's a small static electricity shock, but still, I didn't want to freak him out. BUT once I had 4 of my Black Krim tomatoes gnawed on, I decided to give my electric fence another go and hope for the best.

I had poor results with the electric fence in the past. In all fairness, the problem could be that the location of my garden is next to trees and fences where critters can just hop on down into it. One thing I know that the fence works on is poor little doggies. Tuna Fish Joe got shocked twice and freaked out, so I decided to switch it off again because he seemed afraid to even go out into the back yard.

The good news is that I'm at least getting a few tomatoes. Some of the plants are browning, so I don't know that I'll get many more. The Black Krim tomatoes that I've picked are perfect and beautiful. I've always had good success with this variety and also the Amish Paste.

Black Krim Tomato 

Black Krim Tomato looks interesting when sliced.

Black Krim and Amish Paste Tomatoes 

The ornamental spinach is called Malabar Spinach. I believe it's supposed to flower at some point. Since the leaves get thicker, it's best to eat them raw when they're small and young. I've been tearing up the larger leaves and sautéing them in bacon grease and frying them with eggs most mornings. I'm kinda healthy like that.

Ornamental & edible climbing spinach. 

Tuna Fish Joe was a fan of the green beans and carrots in my garden,
but not the electric fence!