I surrender!

August 1st! It is when the tomatoes turn, when there is enough basil to make pesto, the time to check the potatoes and cook them up.

But woe is me.

August 1st is the day my corn crop was decimated by what I can only imagine was a clan of raccoons. And it is the day that the hornworms started to show on my tomato plants.

I never tasted a single ear of the Spring Treat I planted in May. Not a single ear. The raccoons bit the stalks like beavers and felled them to get at the ears. My theory about their being deterred by Blue Hubbard squash leaves has been proven wrong. They danced on them.

I am pretty philosophical. I’ve made my peace with the fact that I shall no longer try to grow corn. Morning Glory Farm does such a better job than I do. I surrender. I took out what was left of the corn and hauled it away so as not to tempt them to re-enter the garden.

As a sign of my peace with this, I have taken the corn stalks and tied them to the fence posts, sort of the way Mr. Mc Gregor dressed his scarecrow in Peter’s jacket he left behind in the garden.