Tomato Thief!
I'm so very mad. I live in a tiny little apartment that serves as a storage site for all my stuff, my cats, and an occasional resting place while I hustle through graduate school. One of my few pleasures is a tiny pot-style garden on my porch. I was super excited when my tomato plant put up it's first bloom, starting growing it's first little tomato - seriously I have pictures I was so excited.
Finally the tomato began to blush, it turned rosy pink, then yesterday when it was mere hours away from it's peak picking point I made the decision to pick it this morning for dinner. ONLY SOMEONE STOLE MY TOMATO!
Sometime in the course of me getting off from my drudgery work at Target to the time I got up this morning some villain absconded with my precious first (and only ripe!) tomato.
Surely someone here can sympathize with my plight and distress. T_T
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26 Comments:
Oh that just absolutely blows. All I can say is, let's hope that person's karma intervenes. He or she scurried back to the apartment with the booty. Whipped up the perfect tomato tart - I'm talking, parm, basil all the good stuff. Then forgot about it in the oven and burned it to a crisp. The bastard.
therealchiffonade at 2:28PM on 07/01/09
Oh, I'm so sorry that someone stole your tomato. I had the same thing happen to me once, except the culprit turned out to be a box turtle living in my backyard! He took a huge bite out of my first ever home grown tomato.
Knitter at 2:39PM on 07/01/09
Totally sucks. I remember reading on Simply Recipes that they put a sign on one of their fruit trees telling people "Please do not steal". Apparently, it cut down on the theft. Not that it helps replace your prized tomato but maybe you can at least deter the culprit from future indiscretions.
Here's the link - the part about the fruit theft is in the comments
http://elise.com/recipes/archives/004100how_to_cut_and_de-seed_a_pomegranate.php
Myabsurdlife at 2:42PM on 07/01/09
I can sympathize. Whenever you take the time and effort to grow something of your very own it really is a very satisfying experience. If someone did that to me I'd be pissed!!! But there is hope...your plant will gift you again soon!
arm1970 at 2:56PM on 07/01/09
That's really too bad. I actually moved my tomato plants and herbs to the front porch because last year our golden retriever was getting into the herbs and eating the cherry tomatoes that were in the back yard. I was puzzled at first--I couldn't figure out what was happening, until I saw the little minx plucking the ripe ones off for her breakfast when we let her out first thing.
dhorst at 2:57PM on 07/01/09
Do you have squirrels? They love tomatoes...ask me how I know.
lemons at 3:09PM on 07/01/09
If you do not want the wildlife to bother your tomatoes put coffee grounds in the pot and spray them with a dish soap solution. Like half tsp of soap to some water and spray your tomatoes. This will discourage some of the wildlife. Animals do not like the smell of dish soap.
I use a net on mine. Its is stretch net stuff and it discourages them. Water and sun gets in yet no wildlife.
JerzeeTomato at 3:14PM on 07/01/09
I feel your pain. I have lost lots of tomatoes and herbs to squirrels and our Chicago urban bunnie infestation (there's a burrow near our home somewhere b/c I find droppings in our yard all the time). This year, I put up what my neighbor affectionally calls Fort Knox -- a 3 foot tall rabbit-proof chickenwire fence surrounding my tiny plot of 3 tomato plants, basil, cilantro, parsley and mint. I also criss-crossed string all over the top to keep the squirrels out. There is nothing worse than picking up a beautiful, ripe tomato to find that the backside has been devoured by a rodent. Grrrr.
If a person stole your tomato, well, I hope they accidentally step in dog poop.
gbania at 3:27PM on 07/01/09
That is just sick when someone goes in other peoples gardens and steals fruit of veggies. Is there any kind of thing you can put around the area to keep sticky fingers out?
pjracz10 at 3:49PM on 07/01/09
Same thing happened to my sister, last summer. She waited and waited for just the perfect time to pick this big, fat, red tomato and who do you think got it? The deer ~ she saw him taking a big fat bite and leaving the rest! Talk about pissed....
duncan1205 at 4:11PM on 07/01/09
That sucks!
Are you sure the thief was human? If so, I hope it comes back to haunt them.
If it was an animal, well, ripe tomatoes ARE irresistible!
2 years ago I had a patio garden going really well. 4 tomato plants loaded with green and just ripening tomatoes. The bugs were not bothering them and they looked great. Then my damn neighbors once again let their pit bull run free and I caught him eating them ALL off my plants. Not one tomato remained, and he had knocked of blossoms and shredded leaves. I got three tomatoes after that for the whole season. I was so mad.
sadiepix at 5:40PM on 07/01/09
Bastards !!!
onepercent99 at 5:59PM on 07/01/09
I'm positive it was a human thief. And I'm most suspicious of the neighbor who asked me if I picked my tomato randomly this morning. >:(
feriorrenna at 11:43PM on 07/01/09
If in fact it was a human who made off with your tomato, that is completely disappointing and disheartening.
Try and take the high road on it ... I have always said that it's better to feel pain than to cause it.
Your thief has issues, whether they be financial, emotional or pathological. Either way, it's better to be you than to be him/her.
smallkitchen at 7:21AM on 07/02/09
Update: Today my human thief/destroyer was back. He summarily removed ALL the growing tomatoes and smashed them on the concrete.
feriorrenna at 12:55PM on 07/02/09
WHAT!
THAT'S HORRIBLE, WHY ON EARTH WOULD SOMEONE DESTROY ALL YOUR TOMATOES!
GAWD!
mrstkach at 1:13PM on 07/02/09
time to set up a surveillance camera?
Embackus at 1:37PM on 07/02/09
Did you take pictures of the destruction? I would, just to have proof. You might also want to call the police to let them know about theft/vandalism in your area. This way you have a record if other things happen.
I'm sorry about your tomato plant. That sucks!
baker212 at 1:55PM on 07/02/09
That's terrible! We all mourn with you!
Skythe at 5:01PM on 07/02/09
I agree with baker212. If they stole a tomato, that's one thing, but to come back and destroy your plant and smash the fruit is vandalism.
gingercookiewithlime at 5:16PM on 07/02/09
Lemons! How do you know that? I have a squirrel that's really into hot Mexican food. I'd spray the garden with a pepper spray and (s)he'd sit at the end of the garden and wait until I was finished!
goodcooker at 5:33PM on 07/02/09
I feel your pain. This happened to me all last year when I my little patch of a garden was at ground level. I'm on the third floor this year and really hoping it doesn't happen again.
CooksForOne at 12:34AM on 07/03/09
That's a little creepy. I can imagine someone unmaliciously snagging a tomato, and it could have been an animal ... but if someone's purposely destroying your property, I'd be worried. Yeah, I'd call the cops. They probably won't do anything but take a report, but if the next thing is a broken window or scratched paint on your car, you can point out that it's not just one incident and it will get more attention.
Personally, I'd be pointing a webcam out the window. Even if it's just set to take timed photos, you might catch someone in the act.
dbcurrie at 12:44AM on 07/03/09
smallkitchen, i wouldn't have wanted you on my side when i was fighting in viet nam but i'm honestly glad that there are still innocents like you in this world. the world needs a few folks like you and i mean that. (and to the 6 people that know me personally and frequent this site, no i ain't gitten nice, please notice the word "few")
olddad at 7:20PM on 07/03/09
I had an issue with random cats peeing on my house when I first moved in. I bought a water sprinkler called a Scarecrow from Amazon. It has a battery- operated motion detector that sends a torrent of water aimed at the offender. It took not even a week to get rid of the trespassers. I recently had to reemploy it on a neighbor's dog pooping in my yard. I sent a Scarecrow to my parents to keep deer out of their garden. It has worked flawlessly.
beth1 at 7:41PM on 07/03/09
This thread reminds me of the tomato plant we raised at our starter house. We didn't have a lot of sunlight, and it was September by the time it started to ripen. By then, we had the pot in a wheelbarrow, and chased the sun around the yard. Finally, it was nearly ready....a red tomato. We came home from work that day looking forward to the fruits of our patience, only to be greeted by a squirrel standing on the edge of the wheelbarrow, holding it in it's paws. He looked at us, took one bite out of it, dropped it and ran off. We went out and collected it, cut off the squirrelly bits, and ate it anyway.
chanterelle at 9:44PM on 07/03/09