We have a single-strand electric fence that runs around the bottom of our garden enclosure for the purpose of deterring chipmunks and squirrels and other small creatures which would either climb the fence or tunnel under it. Unfortunately, the grass grows around it, and one cannot mow too close to it. When a bit of grass grows enough to touch the strand, it gets zapped. Because grass grows from the bottom and pushes up, the roots don't get the news, so they keep pushing and the result is that we have some grass that has burned bits starting at the 1-2 inch mark. Also grass growing everywhere nearby. Whenever something is being zapped, there's a little popping sound, and I had noticed in recent days that there was an awful lot of popping when I was harvesting. So today I spent a couple of hours weed whacking as close as I could stand, and then raking it back and then using a scissors to trim grass tufts on the strand side and the inside. Probably will not have to do this the rest of the summer, because it's not raining that much and we don't water our lawn other than whatever mother nature gives it, so it likely will not grow up to the zapping point. For similar reasons, I might start having to use town water; my rain barrel is down to about the 1/4 mark. Maybe sometime one of those 20% chance of rain will actually dump some more water in the barrel. The collecting area is pretty big – about 1/4 of the roof and we have a big house. Though depending on the strength of the rain, sometimes it overshoots and misses the barrel. I'm still counting the tomatoes that I get. I just opened the CSV file and had it count: 919 so far. Lately they've been turning bad on the vine – there is a little fermentation going on. So I'm now trying to be a little more aggressive about picking them before "they just fall off into your hand". They're still delicious, and a lot better than the ones that have turned into "tomato jack". comments