Marilyn, I was like your DH with my first vegetable garden, which was in pots on my second-floor apartment's balcony. I had one tomato plant that I fussed over and was thrilled when I saw the first tomato developing. It got to be about the size of a golf ball and then, one day, I found that a cutworm had eaten half of it. I was furious!
I wonder if the tall stalks this year are a result of two good rain years in a row. Last year, we were coming out of three years of severe drought with heavy rains from December 2022 through May 2023. The stalks on my established plants were just of average height and few in number. But this year, although we've had less rain, it came in January, just as the iris were beginning to grow, and continued plentiful to the end of March. The stalks on the established plants were much taller than usual and were numerous. It has been a really good year - more like Oregon!
