Disappointing tomatoes, the chick, and gardens

It has been a bad year for our tomato "crop". The Husband's garden did well with corn, peppers, and string beans, and squash, but his tomato plants were destroyed by the critters before they even had a chance to blossom.

My little garden inside the big fence and inside a smaller fence was doing ok, not great, with the little plants I started from seed in the house. The one big Cherokee Purple tomato started by a friend from seed was doing fantastic. 

I was just waiting for these 2 tomatoes to get ripe, not paying close attention since Mother Nature was doing the watering for me. Ugh! I am not sure if that little snail on the left one did all that damage by itself, but they were about 2 feet off the ground, so I don't think it was a bigger critter. I was able to save most of it.

The little chick is getting big enough that I think it will be safe from the crows, especially with Mom being so very protective. I am thinking (and hoping) she is a hen.

This old retired lady has had more time to clean up the fenced yard. The hydrangea and lilac are doing great, and I actually have some flowers blooming—a nice big double hollyhock, lots of daylilies, big pots of annuals. By next year I should have some actual gardens to show you.