We are disappointed, not giving up but yes, disappointed.
As you may remember, the Raincatcher’s Garden started off in early April with 6 tomato plants in our raised beds and high hopes.
We had vigourous plants with beautiful stems full of promise. Jeff complimented us on our healthy looking plants. We lost one tomato plant but with 5 plants we harvested:
24 lbs of tomatoes on June 19th
19 lbs of tomatoes on June 24th
Tomato Trial Weigh In
but then it happened-our tomatoes were stolen.
Our tomato plants were loaded with healthy looking green tomatoes until someone wiped us clean, taking all our tomatoes and every single peach on our peach tree.
Promising Tomato Crop
Before!
We are not giving up but hoping this wrongdoing will give way to an understanding of our purpose at The Raincatcher’s Garden.
As a research, education, and demonstration garden, we grow so that we can teach others. Read back about our tomato trials to see how much work was involved and understand our goal. We believe most home gardeners wants to have a higher crop yield while conserving water and without pesticides. That’s what we want to teach through our research and demonstration.
What we did learn from our limited trial was that the results were not affected by the three different kinds of soil prep.
At the end of August, we are revamping the soil in our raised beds by adding a purchased compost mix. After that we will begin our fall planting.
Beds 1, 2-all kinds of lettuce: Romaine, Red Sails, Mesculin, Green Ice
Bed 3-bush beans
Bed 4- spinach
Bed 5-beets and turnips
Bed 6-radishes
Bed 7-broccoli and Brussel sprouts
Bed 8-kale and swiss chard
Bed 9-TBD
And yes, we will plant tomatoes again in the spring.
Ann Lamb as told by Sue Weiner and Dorothy Shockley
Review our tomato trial protocol here.
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 
So sad about the tomato thief! Did you all put up a sign in your garden to let people know and hopefully, the thief?! This time I bet it wasn’t Peter Rabbit!
Louisa Ditto
Sent from my iPhone
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It’s tragic, and yes, we are going to put up signs. So much diligence goes into these gardens. Everyone is dedicated to teaching good gardening practices.
We hope and go on!
Ann
I just cannot fathom someone taking your plants. There has been a great uptick in crime in our north Dallas neighborhoods, and this new incident just takes the cake!! So sad for all of us! :((((((
Agree with you, Sara. Maybe they don’t understand the purpose of our garden.
Ann
Awww. So sorry for all you hard work to disappear like that. One can only hope there’s a very needy hungry family that appreciates the deliciousness of their purloined bounty….
That’s a nice way to look at it Anne! I hope so, too.
other Ann