Last summer, the summer of 2009, was not a good year for tomatoes. Besides being too rainy and too cool, critters attacked. I found bites in all the nearly-ripe large tomatoes. The thief left the cherry tomatoes alone. I would have swapped him all the cherries for one Brandywine.

I have lots of suspects-rabbits, birds, squirrels, raccoons and rats. I never was able to catch a glimpse of an animal attacking the fruit. I was at a loss as to how to fix the problem until a friend emailed me pictures of her solution, a raised bed that was completely screened. It is so clever and good looking to boot.