Look at this lovely yellow heirloom tomato.
With its cute little Frankenstein scar.
The first yellow tomato to emerge from my garden.
Now look how they have ravaged it.
I went to go pick it this morning and a bird was all over it.
I'm going to have to get my hands on a scarecrow.
Well I'm going to at least taste the darn thing.
Damn! It was a good one too.
102 comments:
Mean old birds!! You should consider getting some netting. your tomato looked lovely! I envy you your garden-this week is the first time it's been above 0 celsius in a month or two...
Dude, maybe it's the number's curse ^^....
Way to not let the bird stop you! I echo the netting cocept - works wonders.
The birds know a good thing when they see it!
I've heard that birds are more likely to attack tomatoes if you leave them on the vine until they're completely ripe. You can pick them a *little* green, then let them finish ripening inside (maybe by a screened window). (That was advice for evading mockingbirds, though. Might not work with Hawaiian birds...)
Good luck with future tomatoes! :o)
Sometimes an owl statue on a pole will scare away those pesky birds (a nautical tactic). Does your dog hate those birds out there, too???? My Mom has two little dogs who just loathe any kind of birds coming around. And there are some pretty big birds here in Florida...
The birds always go for the good ones!
Who needs a scarecrow? Go get Smokey.
did you hear?
The bird is the word.
Of course it was delicious- that's why the bird was all uponz it! :)
Try to think of it as you doing your part to feed Hawaii's natural wonders ;)
That tomato did look good though, I grew two last year (yes, two) and I named them Remus and Romulus, LOL!
A cat would take care of those pesky birds, it would fertilize the stuff, too.
I should give you my granny's number. She is an expert in this kind of situations...grew tomatoes and stuff since the 50s!
Only there is a little problem...she lives in Greece and doesn't speak a word of English :-)
Take care Jorge
xoxo
Totally random, but this post about the tomato reminded me. I hit the farmer's market to pick up a cheap cherimoya in honour of you. (I just found your blog, you mentioned a cherimoya, like two years ago. I know, random.)
Unfortunately, I got chayote and cherimoya mixed up. So now I have some lovely spiky chayote but no cherimoya. On the bright side, I am not turning into a gringa and can still haggle like a master en espanol.
Next time,though, I'll bring a list.
Some birds get frightened by fake wooden owls perched on your roof. You could try it. (Although Hawaii birds might be smarter than that...do they even have owls in Hawaii?)
oh yellow tomatoes are gorgeous, I grow them here - although not at this time of year.
have you got old cassette tapes? if so pull out the tape, and wind it loosely around canes around your plants - the noise it makes in the breeze scares the birds
SCARECROWS WORK!!! Make one, grab a stick like a shovel or something tape a stick sideways like arms, and throw a shirt on it.
Netting. So much better than fake owls or scarecrows. I grow strawberries. Lovley, juicy, ripe, best when warm from the garden. I used PVC and made a frame to go over the strawberry patch. Works wonders.
Nice lookiin' 'mater, there, Jorge.
For some unknown reason, this made me think of the scene from "The Godfather" where Brando moans, "Look what they've done to m'boy".....LOL The poor tomato. I hate to think of what's going to happen to my berries and grapes this year without my cat to protect them. Sigh.
Haha, you're too funny.
Row covers are a lifesaver when it comes to protecting veggies from the varmin. They allow for light, heat, and water to reach the plant, but prevents birds and the like from eating the fruits of your labor.
P.S. That tomato looked awesome!
Wishing you may more tomatoes-you're a brave man eating that tomato-what if that bird had the bird flu,-you'll be poopin white with a black dot for months (always back to the toilet paper-sorry about that)
I've read that if you hang plastic Christmas tree balls (the same color as the tomatoes that you plan to grow) near the plants while they're growing, birds that would normally eat your tomatoes will come and peck at them and after a while realize that they aren't edible. Then, when your tomatoes actually grow in, the birds leave them alone because they have been screwed over by the plastic balls in the past! Of course, I may be giving birds way to much credit. At any rate, the people who have tried the Christmas ball thing swear by it.
Nice mouth!
That WAS a very pretty tomato. Better luck with the next ones.
Something that folks do around here in the South is tie strips of cloth along a length of twine and then post it around the perimeter of the garden. The movement is supposed keep the birds out.
I don't feel like I explained it well. I wish I could draw a picture of it and post it. *sigh*
I was going to grow a tomato plant this summer in my little courtyard, but I'm afraid the same thing will happen. I guess I will give it a try and see! Silly birds, tomatoes are for sandwiches!
You go, man! Growing your own tomatoes..awesome! Try pinwheels to keep those damnbirds away from your heirlooms!
ooh nice mater! cute pic progression too.
Oh that looks so yummy! When I lived in NZ I grew tomatoes, here in London there is no room and no sun either :( You can try to scare birds away by using anything shiny that will glint in the sun, once I used little mirrorball Christmas decorations to scare the birds off the strawberries! But bits of tinfoil tied to a string and left to move in the wind will work too.
Maybe you should ask Malcolm Kelley to come put one of Walt's bird spells to keep the birds away your tomato plants!
Or get a Hurley bird to keep watch.
Okay, enough of the sad LOST jokes.
: ) P
birds=Scary!
I don't think birds have ever hurt our tomatoes, but we do get these big ugly green worm-type bugs that destroy them. The only way to get rid of them is to squish them, which is pretty disgusting. But at least you got to eat part of that juicy tomato! Guten Appetit!
Wow. You're brave! Even after washing... I don't think I would have tried it ;-)
Yellow tomato...oooh, I feel your pain. Those are my favorite.
I think here in HI the price of tomatoes is keyed to the gold standard or something. Making anything tomato-intensive, like a good gazpacho or bloody mary, is just too expensive.
Jorge, I hope you do read these comments because I got a good idea to try. For years I was the Ex Assistant to owner of Columbia Daily Tribune ( NewsPaper) here in Columbia Mo. Every year late winter early spring a man would drop off weekly a plain brown bag always stapled closed for my boss. I would fine the bag on my desk with just a postie saying for Hank. My boss would take it and never say a thing. My mind was running wild, what was in the bag. Then one day I went to get my hair cut a new shop and there was the man. I was closing in on the truth of brown bag. I waited over a hour for him to cut my hair. He recognized me said Hello got right down to work on my head. As he finished up he swepted up the hair, pulled out a brown paper bag put my hair into it along with the other hair that was already in it. Stapled the bag and handed it to me to give my boss. My mouth hung to the floor. He started laughing so hard he could tell I had never known what was in the bag. Organic Bird and Deer repeltant. Take the Hair place in old USED panty hose and hang where you don't want tomotoe eating pesks. The smell of the hair and movement keeps them away. I know this is for real. Hanks dream home and garden is on over 400 acre of land given over to conservation. As you walk thru the garden you have to look close for the panty hose they just blend in. Add new hair weekly for it to work the best. If you try this I hope to see a photo in your blog. Best of Luck, Lacie
You have tomatoes there already!? I'm so jealous!
It's still a billion degrees below "limbs snapping off from frostbite" here.
What happened to the fence/cage thing you had built?
Ah...I love garden tomatoes. Yum! It looks delish.
Please be patient with birds who eat your food. We have diminished so much of their natural habitat that many of our native species cannot survive winter months and simply die of starvation. They just cannot get enough food. If you want to put out lots of quality seeds (or what the birds eat in the area) they will not attack the fruit as much.
Off the subject....Did I see Bethany in last weeks episode? In the airport scenes? hmmmm
I agree with Lena, put some seeds somewhere and the birds will be less interested in your tomatoes.
Anyway, I know how it can be annoying: my cherry tree last year was able to develop three, just three cherries... guess who ate them all? Not me for sure *sighs*
But they never attacked my tomatoes, good for me! :P
I grew up on a farm. We always had tomatoes. We always took them in a little early and laid them out to ripen; if we didn't the rabbits would get them. I don't know what method is good to scare bird. We did have a scare crow for the corn. You had to make sure it could move some in the wind. The totally stiff kind didn't seem to work very well.
Jorge, your blog posts make me smile. Glad it was a good one - bugger that the bird got to it!
I'm in the same boat as others- so cold up here that we barely remember the sunlight, much less what grows under it !
A nice looking tomato. Our problem has always been squirrels. Somehow they always manage to bite away just enough in a place out of sight so you see the tomato of perfection, but when you go to pick it the insides have all gone to mush and rot because of a lovely little squirrel-dinner-sized hole in the back.
I see that someone else has alread suggested my idea Jorge. And that would be netting, I sorta doubt that a scarecrow would do much good, perhaps a fake owl (do you have owls on The Island?)
Wow! I live in Pennsylvania and the only problem have with critters eating my tomatoes in the Summer are bugs.
I wonder if you could solve your bird problem by putting clear glass bottles around the tomatoes.
They'd end up all neat and odd-shaped, like Japanese cube-shaped watermelons, I'd bet.
The first thing I thought of was the Hurley bird, but someone beat me to the mention of it.
So now I have nothing amusing to say; but I love growing heirloom tomatoes.
Damn those birds! We have the same problem with squirrels and our veggies in the Summer. -e
That's terrible. At least you got to sample some of your tomato though. I don't think I would have been that fearless. I also wish I had gardening tips for you to add to everyone else's but unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's green thumb.
Olfactory repellents generally do nothing to repel birds. Olfactory repellents work on mammals. The human hair that one poster was referring to was most likely used to keep away deer or raccoons. Both of those animals like to eat tomatoes.
Just about the only way you are going to keep the birds from your tomatoes is to put up netting. Make sure the netting is far enough away from the plants so the birds can't reach through.
As far as scarecrows and other "scary" items. These only work for a few days to weeks and then the little birdbrains catch on to your tricks!
Good luck!
I am so jealous that you already have tomatoes growing outdoors!
*sniff*
With your ability to create elaborate jack o'lanterns and gingerbread mansions (or at least torches), I look forward to seeing the scarecrow you employ. ;)
Hi Jorge,
I love your blog. Of all the blogs I follow yours gets the most traffic so here it goes -
I'm walking in the March for Babies in Boston this May. I'm trying to get some donations to my website and figured this would be a great place to leave my link. I know, I'm sorry, but its for a good cause!
http://www.marchforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?w=131038658&u=Mish520
Thanks!!
Michelle
It looked good too!
What kind of tomatoes were they? I grew some before called "Yellow Boys" and there were great. I had to worry more about slugs and rabbits in my garden. You would be wise to protect them because they are a tasty tomato.
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You cracketh me up!
It was murder!!!! I knew birds where evil....ever since that movie.....
That's too bad, Jorge, glad you got to at least enjoy a little piece of the tomato. It puts me in mind of when we planted a little garden in the yard of our first house. My daughter wanted to grow catnip in the garden along with vegetables, so I bought one plant of the herb. It grew amazingly, until one evening, there were visitors to our yard....
The next morning, my daughter was in tears, as the garden was in tatters. Apparently some skunks were attracted to the catnip plant, chewed away at it to the point they pulled it out of the ground. They must have been rolling on what was left of the plant, all over the garden. They hadn't eaten any of the other plants, just smooshed them into the ground while they loved up the catnip plant, lol! All that was left of it, was the stems, and they were shreded. It was a lesson we learned.. don't plant catnip outside.
We're watching this week's ep, and my daughter is absolutely floored. She asked me to ask you, did Sawyer and the rest spend three years with the Dharma Initiative?
I don't know why I found you eating the little piece adorable.
I never had trouble with birds on my tomatoes. Maybe it's just different species in different areas. Time for nets?
Birdies need to eat too... So nice of you to grow such a nice tomato for them to enjoy! Put an owl out in your garden - that scares most birds (even pigeons - you don't have those do you?)
Ahhhh FINALLY you were all back together tonight!!! My roommate and I literally screamed when the O6 got out of the Dharma van. Awesome!
Also, your blog is fantastic and hilarious. I look forward to every update! You rock!
Jorge, my boys received their autographed pics from you today and were so excited! I totally surprised them - and now I am mom of the year! w00t! Michael and Sammy say thanks, and Aloha back at ya, dude!
Jorge, getcha some foil pie pans and string 'em up on your tomatoes and the birds'll leave 'em alone...the possums got mine last year, so I'm gonna see about gettin' new ones and startin' over this year.
Birds are overrated.
Look forward to seeing your scarecrow!
I was wondering if you would answer a LOST question my friends and i are pondering and can't answer... Why did Kate and Sun leave their kids behind? That seems weird... esp to my friends who are Moms.
Thanks!
Love you in the show and love your blog!
I am getting dizzy trying to follow Lost this year, 3 yrs back, forward, back, forward.....
The show is quite good still.
Keep up the good work.
two words:
bird flu
more words:
it did like utterly delicious
It's official: you need to post again, because Blogger has thrown your most recent post off into the archival abyss and now when I load it, it's just blank.
Hey! First...BIG fan of yours!!
Check this out: http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2009/03/thats-one-sweet.html
I think you will get a kick out of the VW bus I created from a Pixar Cars Fillmore toy!!! :) Enjoy!
WOW! Did you see lost last night? Well of course you did well or you know what happens at least but my goodness that was so good!!! I wanna know what happened to Aron though!!!!!!!!!
hmmmm what a pretty color of a tomato - i love that things grow so beautifully in Hawaii. Coming to Oahu in November dude! we should totally have lunch!
oooo that tomato looks gorgeous! I'm officially jealous! The snow on the ground and frozen soil have told me it's not quite gardening time in IL yet! Oh well our little container garden has a the teeniest bit of strawberry plant growing! hahaha!
No fair that you already have tomatoes. I just started my seeds last weekend.
Jorge, you grow heirloom tomatoes? That's awesome. There will be more, fear not. (Of course, that cursed bird might tell his accursed birdie friends. Think of it as a community garden, where you lose a few here and there. Maybe you want to get a cat, heheh.)
Geez, how many birds had their way with that?? That's not just one bird. I give you props for eating it anyway.
My grandma does two things to keep the birds out of her orchard and garden...
Number A: She has a radio playing 24/7
Number B: She puts tinsel on and around the bushes/trees.
The noise and reflection of the sun on the tinsel keep the cursed birds out!
hey man. awesome
too bad that smoke monster isn't real (or IS it?) cuz I bet THAT would keep the birds away!
OMG! That bird almost destroyed it.
You are hysterical with your step by step pictures. Awesome.
i loooove yellow tomatoes, i feel your pain! maybe you should put "Walt's" face on the scare crow, birds seem to really dig him ;)
good luck!
Birds gotta eat too dude. Was that little scar for real?? You could have sold that thing on ebay.
Jorge,
When I was much younger my mother sent me outside with a lawn chair and a book and told me to sit in the garden and shoo away birds (mostly the strawberry patch). I always wondered why we never purchased netting. :-(
Hi colega, there´s one thing you must think about in this theme, you should say thanks to the bird, because it has been the taster that confirm your tomatoes are really cute.
Saludos desde Málaga
Being in a warm place is great. I live in Florida and *if* I gardened, I'd have produce this time of year, too. Gorgeous tomato - including its franken-scar.
You didn't think the bird would eat a bad one, did you? They leave those for the humans. The idea of picking it when it is still a little green and letting it finish ripening on a window sill is a good one (as long as the lizard doesn't get it).
Happy gardening.
I've found that a heavy sprinkle of garlic powder is enough to deter most critters (which, in this urbanite's case, translates to fat city rats...gross). It's harmless - unlike cayenne pepper, which some people coat their plants with - eco-friendly and awesomely effective.
Good luck!
It's a Hawaii thing, I think. We lived in Hawaii for six years and gave up on tomatoes after two years.
The birds (blue birds similar to jays) would take one bite out of each tomato!! I'd have been happy to have them eat ALL of a FEW tomatoes, and leave us the rest. ;-)
Thanks - I enjoy your blog!! Love you on Lost!!
You can cover them with newspaper, my neighbor here on oahu has passion fruit and once they start to grow she wraps them in a piece of newspaper and the bird won't go near them.
I am happy to see that you got some tomatoes.......am thinking of that upside-down tomato garden experiment!
I am happy to see that you got some tomatoes.......am thinking of that upside-down tomato garden experiment!
I am happy to see that you got some tomatoes.......am thinking of that upside-down tomato garden experiment!
I am happy to see that you got some tomatoes.......am thinking of that upside-down tomato garden experiment!
I am happy to see that you got some tomatoes.......am thinking of that upside-down tomato garden experiment!
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