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In my last [garden journal](https://peakd.com/hive-120078/@crosheille/flowers-and-broccoli-and-bugs-oh-my) I shared how frustrated, devastated and wearied I was about how things were going in our garden. I was pretty much ready to give up for this season.

We never got to enjoy our broccoli, we were completely wiped out overnight by rabbits and Lord knows what else.  All we have left are these growing tomatoes that I hope to use in some of our meals.

I’ve been knocking off so many leaf bugs and worms that are making their way to our tomatoes.  I’ve already found a couple of tomatoes with holes through them so that’s been upsetting. We’ll definitely be planning and mapping out better ways to protect our produce from outside eaters.

I honestly don’t want to do another garden until we are able to build raised beds and get some proper fencing.  I feel it’s too much work and time invested into this to just leave our garden open as a free buffet.  

This comment left on my previous garden post by @goldenoakfarm rang really clear to me.  I am grateful to her for stating this:

> One of the very first things I do for any important garden is put in the fencing. Sturdy fencing that will last years. I work too hard to share, I'm afraid. And because I raise for a year's worth of food, I can't be losing it.
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This is exactly how I was feeling.  We put in so much work this year and wanted to enjoy every bit of it.  Fencing will be a priority our next gardening season.

We’ll just take what we learned and try to do better next time around.  
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#### Here are some photos of our first growing tomatoes…

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These photos are from last week. The tomatoes have gotten a lot bigger since then.  I’ll do another update soon so you can see how they are doing.

My daughter wants to pick them off now to keep them for herself as a souvenir.  She’s a rock collector and thinks it would be fun having baby tomatoes added to her collection.  Yes, she knows they will eventually spoil but that doesn’t bother her lol.

*I told her hands off our tomatoes until we pick them for eating :D*

It’s amazing watching the fruit form from the pretty yellow flowers.  We literally have a science lesson right in our backyard. 

> The yellow flowers produced by tomato plants must be fertilized before fruit can form. Once fertilized, the flowers develop into tomatoes, signalled by small green globes that become visible at the base of the blossoms and that eventually become mature tomatoes. Tomato growth begins just above the sepals, which supports the fruit as it enlarges and keeps it attached to the vine.

> Unfertilized tomato flowers are rejected by the plant and separated just below the sepals. If fertilized, the flower begins to age, a process called senscence, shedding its petals and female reproductive organs, revealing the tiny green tomato still attached to the sepals. 
<sup>[SFGATE](https://homeguides.sfgate.com/yellow-flowers-tomato-plants-turn-tomatoes-64200.html)</sup>
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We have learned so much together as a family from gardening.  Even though it’s been rather disappointing how things have turned out I don’t regret giving it a try.  We’ve had many fun moments as well so it’s all been worth it :)

Seeing how excited my kids have been and how they regularly check our garden has really been rewarding.  I wasn’t sure how much they would get into this.  They were disappointed seeing everything eaten away too.

I think they’ve enjoyed scaring the rabbits away the most.  When they see them during the day they immediately go out there to shew them away back to the wooded area. I’m glad they have been a big help.

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**That’s all for now. I’ll be sharing more of my garden journal next week so please stay tuned!**
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<center>*All photos are my own and were taken with our Cannon EOS Rebel T6.*</center>
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<center>Thank You ~ 💚</center>