During the hours and hours that I spend harvesting tomatoes I’ve been noticing that I’m not the only one spending quality time with these jewels of the summer. Various birds enjoy singing a song while perched on a tall tomato stake.
Spiders stretch their webs between stakes and tall plant branches hoping for a catch. The bees not only enjoy the tomato blossoms but I keep finding a wee bee or two at rest on a dangling cherry tomato before continue on its journey.
I’ve also been finding the tiny zebra striped eggs of the harlequin cabbage bug, laid in clutches of twelve upon many tomato stems.
With popcorn growing nearby the tomatoes sometimes get consumed by a slightly confused corn worm. Of course a tomato close enough to the ground might find itself nibbled on my a passing lizard. At the bottom of the plant you will sometimes notice disturbed soil from a gopher whose hopefully just passing through.
All these visitors and residents of the tomato patch are a reminder that we do not only farm for the benefit of humans but also for the livelihood of biodiversity.
Quarter Acre Farm 